Goulash with Caraway Dumplings

Whilst this may not be authentic, it is no less delicious. The perfect warming dish on a cold winter's day. Rather than including stewing beef, I have used lamb escalopes instead – this means that it can be cooked quicker rather than the usual hour or so, because the cuts of meat are tender to start with. I also prefer the robust taste of lamb which works so well with the rich sweet earthy tasting sauce.

I use smetana (an eastern european soured cream) to spoon over the top. If you can't find it in your shop, just use normal soured cream, or even natural yogurt which is a perfect substitute.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

325g lamb escalopes

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

60ml (half a glass) red wine

500g carton sieved tomatoes

2 red peppers from a jar, sliced

1 tablespoon paprika

salt and black pepper to season

Smetana (soured cream) to serve

For the dumplings:

100g plain flour

50g vegetarian suet

half teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

pinch salt

black pepper

cold water to mix

Method

Put the olive oil in a large heavy lidded saucepan over a moderate heat, when the oil is hot, place the lamb escalopes in a single layer (you may have to do this in two batches) and fry for about a minute on each side until brown. Remove the meat and set aside.

Reduce the heat and add the onions and garlic, sauté gently until translucent and the raw smell disappears.

Be careful not to let them burn.

Now add the wine and allow to boil while you stir, scraping up all the bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until almost all the liquid has gone and the alcohol has burned off.

Pour in the sieved tomatoes, add the red pepper and paprika and give it a good stir, when it comes to a simmer return the meat and any of its juices and stir in. Put on the lid and cook gently, after about 10 minutes, remove the lid while you continue to cook for another 10 minutes uncovered to allow some of the moisture to evaporate.

Add salt and pepper to taste and stir again, making sure that your goulash isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan. If it is, just reduce the heat slightly.

Whilst it's bubbling away, make the dumplings.

In a bowl, add the flour, suet, baking powder, caraway seeds, salt and pepper and stir to combine, then add the cold water little by little as you mix with a fork. You want the dough to come together without being too wet. On a floured surface, squeeze the dough together with your hands and divide into eight pieces.

Roll each of the pieces into a ball.

Now you can add your dumplings to the goulash. Drop them in and gently push them down with a spoon, so that they're completely covered by the sauce.

Replace the lid on the pan and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.

The dumplings are done when they increase in size rise to the surface.

Serve in bowls with cool smetana or soured cream spooned

over the top.

Casseroled Lamb

We don't often eat red meat. It's not a health thing or a cost issue, but we don't have an obsessive carnivorous urge that drives us to eat it often. My husband is not your typical man who would happily, every day, down a juicy steak with blood oozing from it and I can quite happily leave the big beast meals for special occasions too. In fact we can get through just over a week without having chewed on the flesh of some animal, so we could actually pass as vegetarians!

But today I quite fancied some lamb and after some consultation with hubby, it was agreed.

It's that time of year when the cold, damp days have one longing for some comfort food, so something like a stew… er, sorry casserole is called for. I hesitated there for a moment, because it is a sin to mention 'stew' in our house. For my husband, it has all the wrong connotations and to him, it deems a meal unfit for human consumption. I think there's some bad childhood memories that come back to haunt him. So 'casserole' it is.

I love lamb when it's cook slowly until the meat is so soft and melting that you could eat it it with a spoon.

I made quite a simple recipe, not many ingredients but the end result is rich and tasty.

First I took an onion, a carrot and a stick of celery and cut them into a fine dice and sauteed them in some olive oil with a clove of crushed garlic and two whole star anise for a couple of minutes. I then tipped them into my casserole pot.

Next I took some lamb leg steaks and cut them into large chunks and then lightly coated them in plain flour. I then placed them in a hot frying pan with olive oil and sealed them until they were brown all over. These went into the pot too.

Then I deglazed the pan with a good splosh of red wine followed by some stock and poured that into the pot as well.

Then I mixed everything together in the pot with a generous grind of black pepper, some salt and finally a small bunch of fresh thyme which I pushed well down to allow it infuse its flavours.

I put on the lid and this all went into a preheated oven, Gas 3, for 2 hours or so.

I checked it now and again and stirred in a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly towards the end of the cooking time. I also added some cornflour mixed with a little water to thicken and placed it back in the oven while I prepared the mashed potatoes.

Just before serving, I removed the thyme stalks.

Well, Mr Spouse enjoyed it very much – so success!