Salt Cod and Tomato Stew

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...The ghosts of Christmas past sometimes surface unexpectedly. Mine snuck up on me this evening as I was making salt cod stew. Its aroma triggered a reverie that carried me back to the Christmas of my eighth year and "Ma'am's" kitchen where salt cod was being prepared for the Feast of Seven Fishes. This was also the year that St. Joseph, to the great consternation of Salvatore, Ma'am's husband, missed Christmas. Salvatore, a successful and respected contractor, was by training a stone mason. He was also an unrecognized, but talented, sculptor who fashioned one of the most beautiful Nativity scenes I've ever seen. There was, however, a problem this particular Christmas and it concerned the disposition of the young and hapless widow Moriarty. Many of you, especially those raised in the comforts and conformity of suburban homes, will be confounded by the remainder of my tale, but trust me, all of this really did happen "once upon a time in America." The widow Moriarty, left with five children and no visible means of support, wanted to sell her house and move back to the home of her parents. The house was in terrible condition and sat on the market for months. She finally told her sad tale to Ma'am who, always sympathetic, sent her boys to paint and otherwise refresh the house. Ma'am also decided to share Salvatore's St.Joseph with Mrs. Moriarty. Together they dug a hole in the Moriarty's back yard and buried the two foot statue, upside down. Ma'am firmly believed that the saint's intercession would help sell the house. I never understood the upside down part of the equation, but it apparently was a deal breaker and necessary if you wanted Joseph's help. In a normal year this would have caused no problems, but the furies, determined to wreak havoc, paid a visit and brought with them an early and hard freeze. The kind that would keep Joseph in the ground until the spring thaw. Now, this business with the statue transpired without Salvatore's knowledge or consent, so his bad temper was, in retrospect, explainable. He was neither religious nor superstitious and couldn't understand how all of this happened to him and his Joseph at Christmas, a time when folks came from miles around to admire his Nativity. Bent out of shape doesn't begin to explain his unhappiness. Ma'am did a lot of special baking that year and things finally settled down after the holiday. Mrs. Moriarty sold her house and, come spring, St. Joseph was disinterred and not buried again until Salvatore and Ma'am wanted to sell their home. Here is the recipe that triggered today's reverie. It's delicious and I hope you'll give it a try.

Salt Cod and Tomato Stew...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Andy D'Amico

Ingredients:
1 pound dried salt cod
1/2 cup to 1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup 1/4-inch-diced onions
4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 jalapeño, minced and seeded
2 ounces grappa or dry white wine
2 cups tomatoes, chopped, with their juice
Bouquet garni: parsley stems, thyme, marjoram, fennel fronds, and a bay leaf, tied in cheesecloth or coffee filter
1 cup 1/2-inch-diced bell pepper
1/2 cup pitted Niçoise olives (stuffed Spanish olives may be substituted)
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
Fruity extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
Sea-salt crystals and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1) Place dried cod in a bowl, cover with cold water, and soak for at least 48 hours, changing water every 12 hours. Remove cod from water, pat dry with paper towels, and cut into 1-inch pieces.
2) Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a nonstick sauté pan, add cod in small batches, and sauté until lightly browned; set aside and repeat with remaining cod. (If the cod is too wet, it will not brown.)
3) Warm 4 tablespoons oil in a 2-quart casserole; add onions, garlic, and jalapeño; and cook gently without allowing them to color. Pour in grappa, and reduce until liquid has evaporated. Add tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add browned salt cod and bouquet garni, cover casserole, and simmer gently for 45 minutes. Fold in peppers, olives, and capers, and return to a simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Stew should be juicy; if it becomes dry, add a little water or stock. Ladle into bowls, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with plenty of black pepper and a few coarse sea-salt crystals. Serve with grilled or crusty fresh bread. Yield: 6 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Portuguese Kale and Salt Cod Chowder - Karen Cooks
Baccala alla Napoletana - Memorie di Angelina
Brandade de Morue - 2 Frugal Foodies
Fried Salt Cod with Garlic Sauce - Lisa is Cooking
Salt Cod, Fava Bean and English Pea Salad - Wright Food
Salt Cod with Red Pepper Sauce - Trissalicious

Tomatillo Chicken and Rice - Crock-Pot Cooking

The two winners of the Novica gift certificates have been chosen. Each of the 270 comments in the drawing received a sequential number at the time it was posted. The winners were chosen by a random number generator which selected the numbers 229 and 71. Congratulations to Aisling and Discovery Woman. I will be contacting you soon.



From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...One of the perks of age is learning to cast away the things that aren't important. That helped this morning as I took a look around the house, assessed what I saw and declared an end to Christmas preparations. Basta! The day was crisp and clear and meant to be enjoyed. I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. I had a wonderful day. I accomplished nothing of importance but had an awfully good time doing nothing at all. I walked some along the river, lunched with a friend and relished the luxury of a midday nap. Dinner, too, was stressless. It was a crock-pot creation that turned out well enough to share with you. If you are looking for a quick holiday meal, I think you'll enjoy this simple dinner which has a Southwestern flair. If you'd like to make your own tomatillo salsa, a recipe can be found here. The recipe for the chicken appears below.

Tomatillo Chicken with Rice...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
2 cups tomatillo salsa
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-1/2-in. pieces
1 can (15 oz.) corn, drained
1 can (15-oz.) hominy, rinsed and drained
1 can (15.5-oz.) cannellini beans, rinsed
2 cubanelle peppers, chopped
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Lime wedges
3 cups cooked rice

Directions:
1) Mix all ingredients except cilantro in a 4 to 5-quart slow cooker.
2) Cover and cook on high 3 to 3-1/2 until chicken is cooked through.
3) Stir in cilantro; serve over rice with lime wedges. Yield: 6 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja - The Perfect Pantry
Slow Cooker Mulligatawny - The Ungourmet
Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches - Jane Deere
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork - Never Enough Thyme
Slow Cooker Pork Chops - The Hungry Housewife
Crock-Pot Chili - Taste and Tell

Chicken Gumbo - Filé Gumbo

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I had a small, surprising triumph tonight. Before going any further, I want to extend an apology to any of my Southern friends who might find my victory lap or bow a bit premature. I stepped into their territory, if not their kitchens, and made gumbo tonight. Despite my years in the kitchen, this was a first for me. I love gumbo, but I found the making of roux off-putting. Armed with great directions, which you can find here, I decided to give it a try and I think I did alright. I made minor alterations to a recipe developed by Emeril Lagasse and was really pleased with the results. My only caution is that you need time to make this. It really is not difficult to prepare, but it needs watching and some of its elements take longer to cook than the recipe would have you believe. Most significantly, it took an hour, rather than 20 minutes, for my roux to become the color of chocolate. The trick is to get it to that chocolate color without burning the roux. If it burns you'll have to toss it. Despite that, I highly recommend this gumbo and hope you will try it. Here's the recipe.


Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo with White Rice...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by Emeril Lagasse

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 pound smoked andouille sausage, cut crosswise 1/2-inch thick pieces
4 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped bell peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
3 bay leaves
9 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup chopped green onions
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves
1 tablespoon filé powder (ground sassafras leaves)- see Cook's Note
.
Cooked white rice
Hot sauce

Directions:
1) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large heavy pot set over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook until brown, about 8 minutes. Remove sausage from pan and drain on paper toweling. Set aside.
2) Season chicken with Creole seasoning. Brown, in batches, using pot in which sausage was cooked. Remove from pan. Let cool and refrigerate until ready to use.
3) Add flour and reserved 1/2 cup oil to pan in which chicken and sausage browned. Cook, stirring slowly, for 20 to 25 minutes to make a chocolate colored roux. I had to cook mine for an hour to achieve this color.
4) Add onions, celery, and bell peppers and cook, stirring, until wilted, 4 to 5 minutes. Add reserved sausage, salt, cayenne, and bay leaves, stir, and cook for 2 minutes. Stirring, slowly, add chicken stock, and cook, stirring, until well combined. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, for 1 hour.
5) Add reserved chicken to the pot and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, skimming off any fat that rises to surface.
6) Remove pot from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, remove chicken thighs from the gumbo and place on a cutting board to cool slightly. Remove and discard bay leaves. Pull chicken meat from bones and shred, discarding bones. Return meat to gumbo and stir in the green onions, parsley, and filé powder.
7) Spoon rice into bottom of deep bowls or large cups and ladle gumbo on top. Serve with hot sauce if desired. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Cook's Note: File powder has a very earthy flavor that tastes like a combination of thyme and savory. It can be found in the spice aisle of large food chains. The powder comes from grinding dried sassafras leaves. If you would like to make your own filé powder, instructions can be found here. Filé powder is added at the end of cooking to thicken the gumbo. To add it sooner can cause the gumbo to become stringy. It can also be passed and added at the table.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Shrimp and Sausage Gumbo - The Bake-Off Flunkie
Chicken Gumbo - Louanne's Kitchen
Quick and Easy Sausage and Okra Gumbo - Sing for Your Supper
Shrimp and Okra Gumbo - Felice in the Kitchen
Pancetta and Shrimp Gumbo - Chow and Chatter
Cajun Gumbo Soup - The Teacher Cooks

Bouillabaisse de Poulet - French Chicken Stew with Fennel and Saffron - Blue Monday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Fall is wonderful in its abundance. In a scant few weeks prices will again begin to rise, but for now, the fruits and vegetables with which I love to cook are affordable and encourage generosity in the kitchen. Once our first rains fall, I put away the recipes of summer and replace them with those that speak to cooler weather. It's time for robust soups and stews and casseroles. It is especially time for bouillabaisse. Most of us think of bouillabaisse as a heady Mediterranean stew that's made with fish and served with grilled bread and thickened with rouille, a red pepper mayonnaise. Julia Child and Patricia Wells both take the elements of that classic bouillabaise, but replace the fish with chicken and make what they call a "bouillabaisse de poulet." The results are delicious, perfect for family and friends who enjoy checkered tablecloth fare. The dish should be assembled a full 24 hours before serving. It takes that long for the flavors of the Pernod and fennel to permeate the chicken. The good news is that all the work is done the day before the dish is cooked and you really are free to enjoy the company of your family and friends. Like many old French recipes, this one, designated peasant fare, requires the purse of a prince to assemble. Pernod, fennel bulbs and saffron come dear, but they are absolutely necessary for the success of this dish. For what it's worth, this is one of my ten favorite meals. If you decide to make this, your mindset must be "in for a penny, in for a pound." You will not regret it. Here's the recipe. Bon appetit!

Bouillabaisse de Poulet...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, inspired by Marie-Louise Auteli and Patricia Wells

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes, peeled, cored, seeded, and chopped
2 large onions, quartered
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 large fennel bulbs with feathery leaves attached, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup Pernod or other licorice-flavored aperitif
Generous pinch of saffron
Small handful of fresh thyme, or several teaspoons dried thyme
4 bay leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 chicken legs with thighs attached, skin removed
1 pound waxy potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 cups chicken broth

Directions:
1) One full day before serving, combine tomatoes, onions, garlic, fennel, olive oil, Pernod, saffron, herbs, and seasonings in a nonreactive large covered casserole or Dutch oven. Stir to blend. Add chicken and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours to blend seasonings.
2) One hour before cooking, remove chicken from refrigerator. Stew chicken in its marinade, covered, over medium heat, stirring from time to time, for about 30 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken broth and simmer until potatoes are cooked, an additional 30 to 45 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Serve in warmed shallow soup bowls. Yield: 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Savoury Chicken Hot Pot - The English Kitchen
Chicken Stew with Dumplings - Whine and Dine
Daring Cooks: Brunswick Stew - Tasty Eats at Home
Kerala Chicken Stew - Mishmash!
Tomatillo Chicken Stew - Simply Recipes
Cazuela Gaucho: Argentine Chicken Stew - 5 Star Foodie
Braised Chicken with Riesling - One Perfect Bite
Coq au Vin: Recipes to Rival - One Perfect Bite

This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday

Blanquette de Veau

Bob and I have two favorite dishes that have their roots in French peasant kitchens. Mine is Cotes de Pork L'Auvergnate, a wonderful dish of pork and cabbage that's braised in cream. Bob's is Blanquette de Veau, a white veal stew that's made with mushrooms and pearl onions that comes from Normandy. Veal, other than cutlets, is difficult to come by here. Every now and then, veal stew meat appears in one of our supermarkets and when it is available I buy all of it I can. We really love this dish and for years I served it for dinner on Christmas Eve. All cooks have dishes they make from memory. These two recipes have been burned into mine and I put them together as easily as some folks throw together a meatloaf. Practice makes perfect. It helps that they are very easy to do. Last week I was able to buy veal stew meat and made Bob his favorite stew. Here's the recipe.

Blanquette de Veau - Veal Stew with Mushrooms and Onions...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
3 pounds veal stew meat, cut in 2-inch cubes
2 quarts water
3 cups chicken broth
1 large carrot, peeled, in 3-inch chunks
1 large onion stuck with 1 whole clove
1 stalk celery, in 2-inch pieces
1 bouquet garni (1/2 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 5 parsley sprigs) tied in a coffee filter
Salt
18 medium-size white mushrooms, trimmed
1/2 of 10-ounce bag frozen pearl onions
4 tablespoon butter
5 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
3 egg yolks
Chopped parsley for garnish

Directions:
1) Place veal in a 4-quart casserole. Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer until heavy scum no longer rises, about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse veal. Wash pan and return meat to it. Add chicken broth, carrot, celery, onion and bouquet garni to veal. Salt lightly to taste. Simmer slowly, partially covered, until meat is tender, about 1 hours. Remove pan from heat. Let pot sit, uncovered, for about 30 minutes to allow veal to absorb flavor of cooking liquid. With a slotted spoon, remove veal from cooking liquid. Set aside. Remove vegetables and bouquet garni; discard. Strain cooking liquid into a large saucepan. Wash kettle and return veal to it along with cooking liquid. Add mushrooms and onions and cook for 30 minutes longer.
2) Remove meat and vegetables to a large bowl with a slotted spoon. Tent with foil to keep warm. Reserve 3 cups of cooking liquid; keep hot.
3) Melt butter in a 3 quart saucepan. Add flour and cook until flour and butter froth together for 2 minutes. Do not allow to brown. Slowly whisk in hot broth. Simmer for 10 minutes, skimming off any foam that appears on surface of sauce. Adjust seasoning and add lemon juice to taste (I generally use a tablespoon of lemon juice). Return veal, mushrooms and onions to sauce and toss gently to coat. Simmer for about 3 minutes. Blend egg yolks and cream in a small bowl. Add a ladle full of sauce to cream mixture to warm egg yolks. Remove veal from heat. Stir in cream mixture and return to a gentle heat. Stir gently until mixture thickens slightly, about 10 minutes. Do not let sauce come to a boil. Transfer to a warm serving bowl. Garnish with parsley and serve with rice or parsley buttered noodles. Yield: 6 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Boeuf Bourguignon - One Perfect Bite
Braised Short Ribs Côtes du Rhône - One Perfect Bite
Crock-Pot Mediterranean Pot au Feu - One Perfect Bite

Transylvanian Goulash - Slow Cooking at Its Best

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Transylvania is a province in central Romania that's surrounded by the Transylvanian Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. If we are to believe the likes of Bram Stoker and Anne Rice, this plateau is also the ancestral home of vampires. While imagination should be allowed to soar, I wish the two of them, in the midst of all that Gothic angst, could have given a nod to Romanian cooking. I've held on to this recipe for quite a while now. It first appeared in "The Cooking of Vienna's Empire" by Joseph Wechsberg and it was featured in The New York Times in 2006. I didn't give the recipe a try until last week. My bad! This is absolutely delicious and I hope those of you who trust my opinion and recipes will give this a try. A bit of back ground will help here. We've had unseasonably cold weather in Oregon this past week. I had a taste for choucroute garni but my pantry and freezer did not have all I needed to make it. I decided that this would be a perfect time to give this recipe a test run. I'm so glad I did! This is perfect winter fare and the recipe adapts beautifully to crock-pot or low-slow oven cooking. I'm giving directions for both. Here's the recipe.

Transylvanian Goulash...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1 pound (drained weight) sauerkraut
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, miced
Salt
2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
3 cups chicken broth
4 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut in 2-inch cubes
1-1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1/4 cup tomato puree or plain tomato sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons flour

Directions:
1) Wash sauerkraut under cold running water then soak in cold water for 20 minutes to reduce sourness. Strain well, pressing out excess water.
2) Melt butter in a 5-quart casserole; add onions. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until lightly colored, 6 to 8 minutes. Add garlic, season with salt and cook a minute or two longer. Stir in paprika, pour in 1/2 cup of broth and bring to boil. Add pork cubes. Spread sauerkraut over pork sprinkle with caraway seeds. Combine tomato puree and reserved broth in a small bowl. Mix well and pour over sauerkraut. Bring to a boil.
3) If using a crock-pot, transfer contents of casserole to crock-pot insert. Cover, and cook on high, for 3 to 3-1/2 hours, or until pork is fork tender but still retains its shape.
4) If using a conventional oven, preheat to 250 degrees F. Cover casserole and transfer to oven. Cook, covered, for 3 to 3-1/2 hours, or until pork cubes are tender but still retain their shape.
5) When pork is tender, transfer meat and sauerkraut to a serving platter with high sides. Tent with foil to keep warm.
6) Transfer sauce to a 2-quart pan. Set over medium heat. Combine flour, heavy cream and sour cream in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth. Stir mixture into sauce and simmer for 10 minutes longer. Do not boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over meat and serve. Pass additional sour cream as a side. Yield: 6 servings.

This post is being linked to:

Crock-Pot Wednesday at Dining with Debbie

Boeuf Bourguignon - Recipes to Rival September Challenge

It's hard to believe that September's come and gone and it's time for another Recipes to Rival challenge. This month's recipe, a tribute to Julia Child, is Boeuf Bourguignon. It was chosen by Heather whose gorgeous blog, Randomosity and the Girl, will inspire all who pop in for a visit. I have a sentimental attachment to this recipe. It was the first Bourguignon I ever made. Not my favorite, but my first. I'm fickle. I quickly moved on to one created by Dionne Lucas and tested a few others before ending my search with Thomas Keller's version of the stew. I don't do a lot of experimentation with challenge recipes. To me, the point of a challenge is to test a recipe as it was written, not to play with it until it no longer resembles the one written by its creator. I make as few changes as possible. I did make a couple of changes here, not to ingredients but to technique. I marinated the meat in wine and herbs for 8 hours and I cooked the stew at 250 degrees F. for 4-1/2 hours for better flavor and more tender meat. The rest was pure Julia. If she said to rub your head and stomach while standing on one foot, that's what I did. There is, however, a nagging question that arises every time I make one of these wonderful old recipes. Did that French bon femme really go to the lengths demanded by these modern recipes? Was everything browned, or was it thrown into the pot and simply simmered until tender? Did she really score and peel pearl onions? How could she afford to make this relatively expensive dish? I think you get my drift. Julia's recipe is a lot of work. In fairness, this is a wonderful dish, but there are spots where the instructions get downright precious. I do hope you'll try this because it is a classic, but I also hope you'll look for other easier versions. Here, in all its glory, is Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon. Bon Appetit.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Yield: For 6 people

Ingredients
A 6-ounce chunk of bacon
1 Tb olive oil or cooking oil
3 lbs. lean stewing beef cut into 2-inch cubes (see Notes)
1 sliced carrot
1 sliced onion
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 Tb flour
3 cups of a full-bodied, young red wine such as one of those suggested for serving, or a Chianti
2 to 3 cups brown beef stock or canned beef bouillon
1 Tb tomato paste
2 cloves mashed garlic
½ tsp thyme
A crumbled bay leaf
The blanched bacon rind
18 to 24 small white onions, brown-braised in stock
1 lb. quartered fresh mushrooms sautéed in butter
Parsley sprigs

Directions:
Remove bacon rind and cut bacon into lardons (sticks, ¼ inch thick and 1½ inches long). Simmer rind and bacon for 10 minutes in 1½ quarts of water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sauté the bacon in the oil over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon. Set casserole aside. Reheat until fat is almost smoking before you sauté the beef.

Dry the beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Sauté it, a few pieces at a time, in the hot oil and bacon fat until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the bacon.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the sautéing fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with the salt and pepper. Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly with the flour. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes. Toss the meat and return to oven for 4 minutes more. (This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.) Remove casserole, and turn oven down to 325 degrees.

Stir in the wine, and enough stock or bouillon so that the meat is barely covered. Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs, and bacon rind. Bring to simmer on top of the stove. Then cover the casserole and set in lower third of preheated oven. Regulate heat so liquid simmers very slowly for 2½ to 3 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms. Set them aside until needed.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan. Wash out the casserole and return the beef and bacon to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms over the meat.

Skim fat off the sauce. Simmer sauce for a minute or two, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2½ cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly. If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons of stock or canned bouillon. Taste carefully for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables.

Recipe may be completed in advance to this point.

FOR IMMEDIATE SERVING: Cover the casserole and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times. Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles, or rice, and decorated with parsley.

FOR LATER SERVING: When cold, cover and refrigerate. About I5 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer very slowly for 10 minutes, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

Notes
Equipment: A 9- to 10-inch fireproof casserole 3 inches deep and a slotted spoon

Cuts of Meat for Stewing:

The better the meat, the better the stew. While cheaper and coarser cuts may be used, the following are most recommended. Count on one pound of boneless meat, trimmed of fat, for two people; three if the rest of the menu is large.

First choice: Rump Pot Roast (Pointe de Culotte or Aiguillette de Rumsteck)

Other choices: Chuck Pot Roast (Paleron or Macreuse a Pot-au-feu), Sirloin Tip (Tranche Grasse), Top Round (Tende de Tranche), or Bottom Round (Gîte a la Noix).

Vegetable and Wine Suggestions:

Boiled potatoes are traditionally served with this dish. Buttered noodles or steamed rice may be substituted. If you also wish a green vegetable, buttered peas would be your best choice. Serve with the beef a fairly full-bodied, young red wine, such as Beaujolais, Côtes du Rhône, Bordeaux-St. Émilion, or Burgundy.

Magyar Gulyás

An authentic gulyás is a beef dish cooked with onions, Hungarian paprika, tomatoes and some green or red pepper. Hungarian goulash is neither a soup or stew, though in Hungary it's considered to be a heavy soup. When properly cooked it has a nice evenly thick consistency that is almost like a sauce. Gulyás was first made by herdsmen. It moved from their tables to those of the nobility in the late 18th century when Hungary moved to assert its national identity and independence from Hapsburg empire. The only trick to making an outstanding goulash is in the preparation of the onions. Think onion slurry - the kind used to make French onion soup - and you, too, will own the secret. I hope you'll try this. It's a wonderful peasant meal.

Magyar Gulyás - Hungarian Goulash

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium to large onions, thinly sliced (about 4 - 5 cups)
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon caraway seeds, toasted and ground
1 large carrot, peeled and cubed
1 large red bell pepper, cubed
1 to 3 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1 to 3 teaspoons hot Hungarian paprika (optional)
2 tablespoons minced fresh marjoram
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups beef or chicken stock
2 to 3 pounds of cubed beef stew meat
4 medium-sized boiling potatoes, cubed
Salt and Pepper

Directions:
1) In a large saute pan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over low heat. Add onions and cook for about 30 minutes, or until onions are translucent but not brown.
2) Turn heat to medium-high. Add beef, in batches, and sear until lightly brown.
3) Add garlic and ground caraway seeds and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute longer.
4) Add diced carrot, bell pepper, paprika (both hot and sweet), marjoram, thyme and bay leaf; toss and allow to saute for a minute.
5) Add tomato paste and stock along with a pinch of salt and pepper.
6) Bring contents of pan to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until meat is tender.
7) Add potato cubes to goulash and cook for 30 minutes longer. Remove bay leaf. Transfer to shallow bowls and serve. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.