Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Goulash and Kitchen Ghouls

The goulash recipe worked out really well. It was so delicious, I can't wait until I can have the leftovers. I served it with plain potatoes and butter on the side and some sourdough bread Ken picked up at the shops. The recipe:

Goulash
50 g./ 2 oz butter
675 g/ 1.5 lbs lean, tender beef
2 large onions, sliced into rings
salt and pepper
15 ml/1 Tablespoon paprika
1/5 kg/ 1 lb tomatoes, skinned and chopped
50 ml/ 2 fl oz beef stock
150 ml/ 5 fl oz sour cream
chopped fresh parsley

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the meat and fry for 5 to 8 minutes, or until it is evenly browned. Stir in the onions, salt and pepper to taste and paprika. Add the tomato and stock, cover and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. If necessary, add a little liquid during cooking. Top with sour cream and parsley.

Serves 4

I followed the directions except I used our slow cooker after frying the meat and cooking the onions for a little while. I put it on in the early afternoon and by 7 it was definitely ready. The tomatoes I used were just a big can of chopped. It couldn't have been easier! And it was really delicious! (If I do say so myself...) The crusty sourdough bread and potatoes were just the perfect finishing touches to the meal.

Tonight I was not quite so lucky with the meal. I made a meatloaf using a recipe from the cookbook. It called for 1.5 lbs (675 g) of hamburger. I only had about half that much meat. I tried to follow the directions and halve it all, but apparently it didn't work. The "meatloaf" became a tiny little thing floating in liquid in the bottom of the loaf pan. It tasted okay, but didn't look very appetizing. Oh did I mention that I set the kitchen on fire in the process?

The freaking electric stove is a bit confusing as to which button controls which burner. At least after a couple of homemade beer it's a bit confusing... I had the potatoes on a burner, and the carrots and pumpkins on another burner. Unfortunately, I had the power going to the burner in front of the pumpkins and carrots. This did not become apparent until I threw the tea towel on top of that burner. And smelled the smoke. It set off the smoke alarm, threw Kenny into a tizzy and laughing fit.

I finished up the meal, and made mushroom gravy to cover up the mistakes. Jeez I needed a glass of red after that! We're now watching a documentary on poop. Yep, Poop. It's amazing what you can find on television.

Bella/Poppy day was a lot of fun. She's such an imaginative little girl. Spent an hour lecturing us on the meteors and outer space. Then "The Artist" gave us a lesson on puzzle making. She kept referring to herself in the third person as "the artist" so we just followed suit. Poppy and I are both exhausted tonight, but it's a good exhaustion.

Here's the recipe for the meatloaf. Please follow it carefully and use the specified amounts!

Beef Meat Loaf
1 thick slice of bread, crusts removed
50 ml/2 fl oz milk
675 g/ 1.5 lb lean beef, minced
30 ml/2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
50 g/2 oz fruit chutney
1 beef stock cube, dissolved in 30 ml/2 Tablespoons boiling water
salt and pepper
1 celery stalk, finely chopped

Soak the bread in the milk for 10 minutes. Mix together with the beef and the remaining ingredients. Place the mixture in a greased 1 kg/2lb loaf tin, lined with foil, and smooth the top. Put the tin into the oven preheated to fairly hot (190 C/375 F) and bake for 1 hour. Serve hot or cold. To serve cold, allow the loaf to cool for 1 hour in the tin before turning it out. Serves 4 to 6

Oh and another thing... Ken and I took the fitness age thing on the Wii Sports. My "fitness age" was determined to be (drumroll please) 57! And Ken was just 29. He's so excited and obnoxious about the whole thing. My question is how do they determine this after a bowling, baseball, and tennis exercise? I'm taking the damn thing again tomorrow to try to score better. He made me take a picture of our "ages", but I'm not posting them yet.


Lots of love,
Courtney

PS Ken is so distraught that no one has asked for his curried eggs recipe!


1 comment:

  1. I'd love the curried egg recipe, if I liked curry or eggs, but no...thanks.
    I thought you knew kitchen safety better than to throw around tea towels. The authorities will deport you for burning down the town. Mom

    ReplyDelete