Elk Paprikás

After a bit of a hiatus, I am attempting to start the year off with a journey back to my kitchen. After completing my comprehensive exams last Saturday, I thought "I need a serious mental holiday"....cooking restores my sanity (or at least the amount of sanity I am capable of!).

I dusted off a few of my favorite cookbooks and found nothing new enough for my BOLD return so I pulled out my Gundel's Hungarian Cookbook (bought on a trip to Budapest in 2000).  Gundel was one of Hungary's premier chefs whose book was first published in 1934 .....45 editions later, it is in my kitchen!

In all of our wild European adventures, nothing compares to the food in Budapest.  Such flavors and OH-My-GOD the wine and the music were divine!  The stories we could tell (such as taking a huge risk and booking a room in remote, little recommended pension in the center of the old district.....turned out to be a 900 year old castle and the only place to sleep other than the communist-style Hilton!)

Gundel also has a wonderful restaurant in the newer section of town http://www.gundel.hu/en/ 

Elk Paprikás

7 T lard (I use olive oil since lard grosses me out)

1 onion finely chopped

3 tsp paprika

2 - 2.5 lbs cubed elk (or you can use lamb or beef)

1 medium fresh tomato

1 c finely chopped bell pepper (I used red)

1/4 c flour

1 1/4 c sour cream

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Brown the veggies and set aside. Onions should be slightly brown. Brown the cubed meat.  Combine the two sets in a Dutch oven or in a crock pot and cook on simmer until meat is tender.  In the crock pot, this easy and you can just set it on low for 4 hours or so.  The difference between a Paprikás and a Pörkölt is that a Paprikás is more of a gravy and, as such, when the dish is ready, you must mix the flour and sour cream together and stir in to the cooked meat. 

The cookbook suggests serving with galushka dumplings but rice or boiled potatoes are also nice.  There is some "issue" in Eastern Europe with sour cream served with green salad..... But I'm going with a big green salad!

Always a rebel :-)