Tag: traditional

Beef Goulash / Gulyas – Hungarian

serves 4-ish

1 kg stewing beef in 1″ cubes
4 big/spanish onions, chopped
4-6 smoked streaky bacon slices- diced, or a few lardons.
3-4 tablespoons sweet smoked paprika
salt, pepper to taste
1 green pepper, diced
1 tomato
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp sugar
oil to fry beef with

Seal the beef a few cubes at a time to get some colour on it without drying it out. keep the beef in a bowl until ready to add it back in. (a spot of water to deglaze the pan in between batches works, save the water with the beef.

Fry off the bacon/lardons then add the onion till the onions are soft. Take off the heat for a couple of minutes and add the paprika, and browned beef + deglaze. Mix it all up.

Add enough water to cover the meat (not too much – the consistency you want the sauce) Add the diced green pepper, the whole tomato (it melts, along with the onions and pepper – no point dicing).  Add the salt & pepper too – but don’t over do it, you can season it fully at the end.

Simmer covered on very low heat for about 2-3 hours. Check, every now and then that it’s not getting too dry or sticking on the bottom. Once its cooked up, add some lemon juice for a spot of tang, salt/pepper to taste and a teaspoon of sugar if needed.

You can cook dumplings on the top if you like. Serve with mash, a dollop of sour cream, and a chopped green herb of your choice.

Broth

250g soup mix ( barley, lentils, peas)
2 medium potatoes- peeled and diced.
2 pints chicken stock (fresh home made)
2 carrots, peeled and dice
1 large sleek, diced
2 sticks of celery
1 cup fine chopped roast chicken
2 rashers bacon
Salt and pepper to taste

Soak the soup mix overnight, and boil in water for 40 mins to get it going

Fry the bacon and leeks

add the stock, soup mix, potatoes celery,  carrots, boil for 30 mins

Add add the chicken, and boil for 10 mins. Stir well and season.

Glengarry Flan

I found this recipe in an old 1930’s cookbook, and thought this is one to rescue.

Line a shallow pie plate (7 1/2 inches across) with sweet flan pastry. Filling:

 4 oz soft brown sugar
1 1/2 level tblspn cornflour
4 tblspn cold water
1/4 pint milk
2oz butter/marg
1 egg, separated
1/2 vanilla essence
1 1/2 caster sugar
mix brown sugar and cornflour in the water.
heat milk and butter, but do not boil. pour over the corn flour and sugar mix, and return to the pam. stir on a heat till thickened. Add the egg yolk and vanilla essence (careful not to curdle the egg as it adds to the hot mix). Pour into the pastry case. Bake for 30 mins at gams 6/ 400f. Remove and turn the oven down to 300f/ gasm2.
whisk the egg white stiffly and fold in the castor sugar. pipe the meringue mix in lines across the flan. bake till meringue is golden – c15 mins.

Old Edinburgh Tart

I found this recipe as a hand-written note in my Mum’s cookbook. She’s never made it, but had copied it from somewhere a long time ago. I’ve not made it yet either, but as I now live in Edinburgh, I thought I’d save the recipe for posterity.

Pastry-
8oz plain flour,
5oz butter,
pinch of salt
cold water to mix

filling –
4oz butter
4oz caster sugar
4oz raisins
4oz mixed chopped peel
2oz glacé cherries
3 eggs
1-2 tblspn whisky

Breadcrumb the butter into the flour and add the salt. Add enough water to the crumb to make a firm pastry (takes 4-5tblspn of water).
Line a 9″ flan tin.

Place butter, sugar, raisins, minced peel, and cherries and heat until butter has melted and sugar dissolved. Leave to cool.

beat eggs and whisky together. Mix into main mixture and put into the lined tin. If there is spare pastry, decorate the top with a lattice.

Bake in a hot oven (400f) for 25 to 30 minutes.