Mamas Goulash Recipes

MAMA'S GOULASH

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the ground beef. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon and brown until no longer pink. Drain excess fat.
• Add onions, celery, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until the veggies are tender about 3-5 minutes.
• Add beef broth, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes with juice, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings; stir well.
• Stir in macaroni until well combined. Cover with a lid and simmer for 18-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Top with shredded cheese and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.

MOM'S SIMPLE GOULASH

Steps:

• Fry hamburger, pepper, and onion in large skillet.
• Drain fat if needed (if you're not sure, you can also only cook the macaroni part way so that while simmering the uncooked pasta will soak up excess moisture when added to the mixture).
• Add remaining ingredients and heat well.
• Add macaroni and heat through.

MAMAS TEX-MEX GOULASH

Steps:

• In a large skillet or Dutch oven, brown ground beef and onions. Add salt and pepper. Drain grease from pan.
• Add remaining ingredients except macaroni. Heat to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, cook macaroni according to package directions for al dente. Drain, then and to sauce and heat through. You may need to add extra water to keep from getting too dry.

MAMA'S GOULASH--MY WAY!

Steps:

• 1. Brown ground meat with onion and garlic. Drain excess grease.
• 2. Put all the ingredients except the meat and macaroni into the slow cooker and then stir the meat in (so it doesn't settle on the bottom). Cook on high for at least three hours (or on low for 6 to 8 hours) to allow the flavors to blend.
• 3. A couple of hours before you want to eat stir in the dry macaroni. You CAN put it in at the beginning, but it will grow and grow, especially if you let it cook all day, so if that's your plan, start with really tiny pasta, like tiny elbow mac or stars. I sometimes just cook the pasta in a pan of water and stir it into the goulash 15 or 20 minutes before I serve it. That way, it's done perfectly--isn't mushy or "crunchy." Pasta can be very tricky in a slow-cooker.
• 4. At this point, the goulash should be juicy--almost a soup, so if it starts to get too thick, add some hot water or hot tomato juice.
• 5. None of these amounts or ingredients are critical. Use what you have or what your kids like. Use pinto beans if they don't like kidney beans or leave out the garlic. Leave out the cayenne and turmeric if your family doesn't like the little bit of "heat" they add.
• 6. MY MOTHER'S METHOD (great for throwing together when you get home from work) was to cook the macaroni al dente, brown the meat, then put it all in a kettle on the stove and let it simmer for a couple of hours until dinnertime. The taste isn't quite as mellow, but it's still awfully good, and doesn't require as much advance planning! :D