Goulash - Good Old Fashioned Comfort Food

One of my all-time favorite comfort foods is Goulash! It is simple, both to make and in terms of what it consists of - hearty, and versatile since you can put just about anything into a goulash and spice it any number of ways. I've been on something of a thyme kick lately, so there is is lots of that in there.

Two of the main ingredients are beef and diced tomatoes. For the former we are using ground beef from one of the local farmers that we deal with. It is non-certified organic, and absolutely fantastic tasting! For the tomatoes we are using a pint / 500ml jar of diced roma tomatoes that we put down in the fall of 2006. We do a lot of tomatoes every year - buy them by the bushel at the farmers' market at the end of our street, and process and can them up.

Note we are using a deep skillet which is like a frying pan that is 4 or 5 inches deep. If you do not have one, use a dutch oven or a casserole dish that is suitable for stove top.

Here is what we put into ours :

• about a pound of ground beef (OK, we used 612g which is a bit more than a pound - maybe 1 and a quarter)
• 2 good sized onions, pureed
• 2 and 1/4 cups elbow macaroni
• 1 pint / 500ml diced tomato (go ahead and use a 750ml can if you like)
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil

We puree the onion because while our boys like the taste of onion when they do not know it is in something, if they see it in there they will not eat it. I actually prefer my onions cut fairly large but have come to do it this way mainly because of the boys.

Our beef is frozen so we put it into the skillet that way, on low heat for 20 or 30 minutes with the cover on. Every 5 minutes we take the cover off and scrape off any meat that has thawed enough, and chunk it up to fry. The beef from our local farmer is incredibly lean - so lean in fact that we normally have to add a few tablespoons of oil when frying it.

While the beef is cooking, puree the onion, and measure out all of the herbs and spices into a little bowl. You should also put 2 cups / 500ml of water into a pyrex container and nuke it long enough to boil it. We'll be cooking the macaroni directly in the skillet, and using water that is just off the boil will speed things up quite a bit for us.

When the beef is all thawed out, add the onion and spices, give it a good stir, and then add the macaroni and the 2 cups of water that is just off the boil. Now add your corn starch and give it all a good stir. Finally, add the diced tomatoes and let it come back up to the boil. Put the lid back on, and go put another 2 cups of water into the microwave to boil.

Start timing 10 minutes from this point, or whatever the cooking time is for the pasta you used. If you are using whole wheat pasta it may require more time.

Every minute or two, remove the lid and give everything a good, deep stir, ensuring that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the skillet. When the water is boiled, add 2/3 to 1 full cup and give it another good stir. When your 10 minutes is up, turn the heat off and cover for 5 minutes to let thicken more.

Serve and enjoy!