Hungarian Beef Stew (Goulash) and Spaetzle

At the beginning of the summer, I bought and froze a bunch of beef stew meat.  I didn't realize how many vegetarian meals I would be cooking and thought the meat would be eaten quickly.  However, despite cooking for vegetarians most days, any time I cook meat the food seems to vanish rather quickly.  When presented with stew meat my first inclination is always beef bourguignon, but, since I made that just a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try something new.  I have previously seen recipes for Goulash or Hungarian beef stew and decided to try.  Serving suggestions for the stew often included spaetzle so I decided to make that as well.  This can be a bit time consuming though.  You can just purchase spaetzle from the grocery store if you can find it or serve the stew with egg noodles instead.  But since the meat is in the slow cooker, I had time to prepare the spaetzle

Goulash is a typical Hungarian stew with many different variations.  From what I can tell by looking through different recipes, the only requirements seems to be slow cooking some sort of meat with paprika and onions.  Recipes also seem to generally include tomatoes, garlic, peppers, and caraway seeds.  I did not happen to have caraway seeds, but, since fennel, dill, and cumin are all of the same family, I substituted in some of those.  If you happen to have caraway seeds, use those.

Hungarian Beef Stew

• 2 pound beef stew meat
• 2 large onions, diced
• 1 1/2 cups red bell pepper, diced
• 1 small chili pepper
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp. dill
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• salt
• pepper
• oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (optional)

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil.  Brown the beef in batches and put in to the slow cooker.  In the same skillet, cook the onions, peppers, mushrooms, and garlic until the onions are softened.  Add the vegetables to the slow cooker.  Stir in the wine, tomatoes, and spices.  Cook on low for 8 hours or until the beef is very tender.  Turn off heat and stir in the yogurt.  Serve over spaetzel or egg noodles.

Spaetzle
(This recipe is adapted from the one found here.)
Making spaetzle is not exactly the easiest thing.  While the batter is incredibly simple, actually making the dumplings is a bit time consuming.  In order to make the spaetzle, you need to drop bits of batter in to boiling water and then remove them from the water with a slotted spoon once they are cooked.  There are several different instruments that can be used for dropping the dough into the water.  While looking at different recipes, I saw suggestions for colanders with large holes or ricers.  I know that they also sell spaetzle makers, but if you own one of those, you probably know how to make spatezle better than I do.  With the limited resources of my dorm's kitchen, I found that a spoon with large holes worked best and gave me a bit more control over the process than a colander.

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup water or milk
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. butter (optional, for toasting spaetzle)
• 1 tbsp. parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions:

To make the batter mix together flour and salt.  Make a well in the flour and add in eggs and water.  Mix together the batter.  It should be like a thick pancake batter but still be able to pour.  Add more flour or water to adjust the consistency.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Put some batter into your slotted spoon or colander and uses another spoon to gently press drops of batter into the boiling water.  (Do not cook too much spaetzle at once or they will stick together.  I found that cooking about 1/2 cups worth of spaetzel batter at once worked well.)  Cook the spaetzle for about 2 minutes and then remove from boiling water with a different slotted spoon.  Place aside and toss with a bit of oil to prevent them from sticking.  Repeat until all the spaetzle is cooked.

The spaetzle can simply be served plain, particularly if you are serving it with stew.  You can, however, also toast the spaetzle in butter to add a bit more texture and flavor.  To do this, melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add the spaetzle and cook until it is browned to your liking.  (I had to do this in two batches to avoid over crowding my pan.)  Remove from heat and stir in parsley.  

- Sophie