Veal Paprikash

There are very few cuisines that can register a comfy, warm feeling in your stomach, even before you’ve eaten it.  Hungarian food fits that bill.  Just thinking about it, you know you’re going to get a fantastic, stick to your bones meal.  The most obvious of these is goulash and that’s almost what this blog was about, but if you dig a little deeper you’ll find there are quite a few more recipes than that.

I was at the store, of course with no list, trying to decide what I needed for a goulash when I remembered my wife saying we needed sour cream.  A quick peruse through the produce area found red bell peppers on sale as well as shallots.  That was all it took.  The plan had changed.  I grabbed the sour cream and wandered over to the meat aisle to find veal shoulder chops on sale and the rest fell into place.  While not completely authentic, this was just as satisfying.  Enjoy!

I started by removing the bones and excess fat from about 2 pounds of veal shoulder chops which netted about 1 1/2 pounds of meat.  I cut the meat into strips and placed them in a bowl.  I tossed them with 3 teaspoons of Hungarian sweet paprika and a few good pinches of kosher salt.  I added 3 tablespoons of flour and tossed to coat then set aside.

I heated 1 tablespoon oil in a large fry pan over medium heat and added 5 large shallots that I quartered and 5 lightly smashed garlic cloves.  I cooked them for about 5 minutes until lightly browned then removed them from the pan.  Next time I would quarter the garlic as well and that’s what I’ll include in the recipe below.  While this was cooking, I roasted a red bell pepper on the grill until it was blackened, then covered it in a bowl with foil to steam.  You can sub a roasted bell pepper from a jar, but you will lose some of the sweetness.

I added 3 tablespoons of oil to the pan over medium high heat and added the meat, cooking it for about 6 minutes until browned.  I whirled the roasted bell pepper in my food processor with 1/2 cup of beef stock until pureed.  I added this to the pan along with 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1/4 cup dry vermouth, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 3 teaspoons smoked paprika, 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, the reserved shallots and garlic, then seasoned with fresh pepper.  I covered the pan and simmered it on low for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, I removed the lid and stirred in 8 ounces of sour cream and cooked over medium heat for about 4 minutes until it had incorporated.

And this was the final dish.  I served it over buttered noodles seasoned with poppy seeds but rice works just as well.  Enjoy!