I love beef oxtails and try to use it in any beef recipe I can (see my Oxtail and Linguine recipe). It works especially well for soups and stews because the bones give off so much flavor to the liquid. My latest oxtail conquest is Goulash, a Hungarian stew, which Lon grew up with. This is an easy dish that doesn’t require too much work, but it does require inactive time. As I sat, waiting for it to finish cooking, I started getting nervous wondering if my Oxtail Goulash would pass the test for Lon (of Hungarian descent) and it did, with flying colors!

Oxtail Goulash

  • 2 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 2 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 medium red onion, saute sliced
  • 3 pounds beef oxtails
  • 1 (35 oz) can peeled plum tomatoes, with liquid
  • 2 cups water
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 3 rounded tablespoons of Hungarian sweet paprika

1. Heat a dutch oven (Le Creuset) with vegetable oil on medium high heat. Add carrots and onions and cook for 2 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove the cover and continue to simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. Remove from heat and use a spoon to spoon off the excess oil. Serve.

We were inspired by a post on FXCuisine to buy a spaetzle scraper. This is our first time using it and even though I can only vaguely remember the one time I made it in culinary school, I felt daring and wrote my own recipe. This was mainly because I didn’t want to go out and buy any ingredients so it had to be made with what we had. The result was just as good as any spaetzle I’ve eaten.

Spaetzle

  • water for boiling
  • 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • pinch white pepper
  • 2 tablespoons half and half
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten

1. Fill a 4 quart pot with water, salt it, and bring to a boil.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together half and half and water. Alternate between adding liquid mixture and eggs into the dry mixture. Mix until smooth.
3. Turn water down to a simmer. Press dough into a spaetzle scraper over the simmering water and cook for 4-6 minutes. Drain and serve.

I threw in some roasted potatoes and it was the ultimate comfort food. We both stuffed ourselves with 2 or more plates like this.

Oxtail Goulash and Spaetzle.jpg

posted by jessica at 12:42 AM Filed under Eastern European, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.