Goulash Hongrois

When I got married and moved to the States, my Mom gave me a series of little recipe pamphlet put together by a well known Mom and daughter team in Quebec, the Taillefer. The good thing about these recipes is that they are generally healthy (not necessarily low calories though) and include a lot of "traditional" foods from home. They aren't limited to local foods though. I guess I should say that Quebec's traditional cooking is very strongly influenced by what the different immigrants (French included) brought in.

These are, I believe, from 1996-1997. 

Last week I moved my cookbooks around (ARG!) and found this bundle of little pamphlet, which I have rarely used, and decided to dig in for some "cook ahead" idea. I found a recipe of Goulash that seemed fairly healthy and had no pasta in it. Because of that, it was perfect for freezing!

I am putting in here the original recipe, and will not the changes I've made in it. I need to note that I count the P+ value of my recipes by hand, and do not put in value for 0P+ vegetables. So if you want to be righteous about this, use the recipe builder at www.weightwatchers.com.

The picture is a little dark-ish, but the flash made it too shiny. 

Goulash Hongrois
6 servings, 7P+/serving

Ingredients
2 lbs veal, cubed (I used 1 lb 10 oz of top sirloin steak, trimmed and cubed)
1 TBSP Paprika
2TBSP flour
2 TBSP oil (I tried cutting down, but it's needed!)
1 TBSP butter (didn't use)
1 onion chopped
1 cup beef broth
2 cans (19 oz) crushed tomatoes (I used 1 can (28oz) crushed, and 1 can (14oz) roasted diced, drained)
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 TBSP oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
Salt & Pepper
(I added a bay leaf and 3 small carrots sliced)

• Mix flour and paprika and coat beef cubes, shaking off excess. Heat up oil in a dutch oven and brown beef on all sides. Set aside. Remove excess fat from pan (skipped this).
• In the same pan heat butter (cooking spray!) and cook onion stirring. I had to throw in a little broth cause the flour was burning at the bottom of the pan. Keep it close! Add beef, tomato paste, crushed tomato (and diced), and broth to the pan, cover and simmer 30 minutes. 
• Add potatoes (and carrots)*, cover and simmer 40-45 minutes. Uncover and cook 5 minutes until thickened to taste**. Add oregano and check seasonings.

* I added 1/2 of the oregano then, and salt and pepper. I added the rest of the oregano at the end and adjusted seasonings
**I cooked this to freeze, so I didn't want it too thick knowing it would thicken when I heated it up.

This turned out to be delicious! It takes forever to cook, but it's not that much prep!

Ours made 7 1 cup servings at about 5 P+ each. We did eat 1.5 serving for dinner, but it was too much! As my husband said: "This is sneakily filling!" It could be served over pasta, or grains, but stands very well on its own. I must admit it would be great with a big piece of this rustic bread too, but we DIDN'T!

Happy Cooking Everybody!