Goulash - well my easy tasty interpretation of it!

I'm sure I'm not the only person in the UK who is glad to see the back of our frankly, rubbish summer and is welcoming the dark and cosy nights of autumn with open arms (maybe not this much rain though!)

Autumn is all about slow cooked pieces of meat that melt in your mouth and strong rich flavours for me and this goulash is spot on.

Sorry all the veggies for the 'melt in the mouth' comment. You can also make this goulash with some chunky portabello mushrooms and a teaspoon of marmite / other yeast extract.

You will need:

1lb stewing steak (cubed into bite size pieces, dont be too finnicky about trimming off the fat)
1 big sweet potato (slighty bigger bits than the beef if you can)
4 medium sized carrot (slightly smaller bits than the beef)
6 teaspoons of paprika (I like 3 each of both normal and smoked paprika) - yes, really that much!
Small bottle of red wine (250ml)
2 cloves of garlic
Dessert spoon of tomato paste
1 red onion, chunky chopped

In a big frying pan, gently cook the onion garlic and tomato paste in olive oil, after a couple of minutes, turn up the heat and add the beef and paprika. Keep stirring until all the beef is sealed.

Tip it all into a big casserole dish then add the red wine to frying pan (this will pick up all the bits off the bottom of the pan), then tip that into the casserole dish aswell.

Add the sweet potato and carrot to the dish and top up with some freshly boiled water out of the kettle.

Put a lid on and cook on a low oven (140C) for two hours, or longer if you like! Stir in a bit of flour mashed with butter to thicken (or even some gravy granules) if you like your sauce thick.

Serve with a dollop of soured cream and fluffy white rice ( you could serve with another starchy carb, but I think the clean taste of the rice contrasts wonderfully with the rich goulash)

Enjoy, pics when mine comes out of the oven!