Goulash and spätzle

One of my favorite treats is my moms goulash and spätzle. Her goulash is variation of the Hungarian meat stew that like so many delicious recipes used to be a way for poor people to utilize food scraps. Spätzle are essentially egg noodles made from scratch. This recipe is one of a few that can instantly take me back to my childhood in Germany.
Goulash ingredients:

• 1 lbs of cubed stew meat (beef sirloin or chuck in 1″ cubes)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup cheap red wine (2 buck chuck is great)
• 1 large onion
• 1/4 stick butter

Spatzle ingredients:

• 1.5 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• dash nutmeg
• dash paprika
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter

Preparing the goulash:
[step 1] Cube the onion into 1/2″ pieces and set aside with meat. Mix flour and paprika and sprinkle over raw beef cubes. In a large pot (with as much flat bottom surface as possible) melt the butter until it turns golden brown over high heat. Toss in the beef along with the onions and remaining flour/paprika.

[step 2] Continue searing meat and onions over high heat for 5 minutes or until the onions become clear and meat is evenly browned. Keep stirring and adjust heat to ensure things don’t burn. The temperature should be hi, but be careful not to burn things.

[step 2.5] (thanks to Luigi) Add the wine. This will loosen up all that beautiful stuff that has gotten stuck at the bottom of the pot from searing the meat. After you add the wine, stir and keep temperature on high for 2 more minutes.

[step 3] Add salt, pepper and bay leaves and pour in enough water to cover the cubes of meat. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for at least three hours. Stir occasionally and add a little water if it gets low.

[step 4] When the beef has the desired tenderness (I like mine when falls apart if you poke it with a cooking spoon) add a couple of tablespoons of heavy whipping cream to give the goulash a beautiful light brown color. The consistency should now be similar to a thick stew.

[step 5] Over high heat, melt 1 tbsp of butter in a small pan.  Sprinkle in a couple of tablespoons of flour while stirring the mixture with a whisk. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes brown but be careful not to burn it. After about 1 minute it’ll start smelling strongly and getting darker very quickly. Remove the mixture from heat and immediately add it to your goulash. Stir it in and it will thicken the sauce immediately.

[step 6] Stir in a tablespoon of heavy cream for color and texture.

Preparing the spatzle (cooking only takes 10 – 15 minutes):

[step 1] Melt the butter and mix all the ingredients in a bowl. The batter will be thick and extremely sticky so using your hands is not a good idea. Use a fork or a cooking spoon to mix the batter.

[step 2] In a large pot heat 8 cups of filtered water. Add a dash of salt and bring it to a gentle boil.

[step 3] Drop a good size portion of dough onto a cutting board. Then using a knife dipped in boiling water, cut small strips of dough and drop them into the boiling water. This is kind of a messy operation as the dough will stick to pretty much everything. The pieces usually stick to my knife and I have to lower it into the water for the piece to fall off into the water. You can keep your knife relatively clean by keeping it wet with hot water.

[step 4] When you first drop the spätzle into the water they’ll sink to the bottom, but after about 30 seconds – 1 minute they’ll float to the top and are ready to be scooped out. Be careful not to ad too many spätzle. If you’ve added too many, the boiling will stop and it’ll be hard to tell which ones are ready.

Now place some spätzle on a plate and top generously with goulash and enjoy.
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