Simple Paprika Pot Roast

I don't know what it is with me and the one pot meals, lately, but a pot roast sounded pretty good today.  But, not feeling so much like having your average gravy, I wanted something a bit more Hungarian...


And so...paprika pot roast!


Real good, real sweet paprika of serious quality can be hard to come by.  My friend Greg's parents occasionally import (in their luggage) some for me direct from the Czech Republic.  I hoard it jealously.  You know it's good when it almost glows radioactively red!

That being said, any paprika will do, and you can even use chile molido (mexican paprika) as long as it is only ground chiles and nothing else (chile powder often has cumin and other spices mixed in).


Here are the ingredients:

• One 3-4 lb. pot roast (I used a bottom round, grass-fed of course!)
• 2 large yellow onions (chopped in square inches)
• 2 cups coarsely chopped carrots (I like to slice diagonally...)
• 1 cup tomatoes (I happened to have strained tomatoes, but any type will do...)
• 1 cup strong, dry red wine
• 2 cups water
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp hungarian red pepper sauce (optional, of course!)

Also from my Czech friends. And, no, I have no clue what the label says!

• coarse sea salt
• flour for dusting
• cornstarch for thickening
• egg noodles, rice, or 2-3 cups quarted potatoes

Let's start cooking!

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Season the beef with a few pinches of salt and lightly dust with flour.

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over med. high heat.

Brown the beef thoroughly on all sides then remove to a plate.

 

Add the onions to the pot and fry for a minute or two.

Add the paprika and red pepper sauce to the onions, mix, and fry a bit longer.

Add the red wine to the pot and deglaze, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom for all the little brown bits.

Add the water and tomatoes and stir to mix well.

Return the beef to the pot, turning it over several times to coat in the gravy, and spoon some of the onions on top.

Cover the pot and place in the oven.  Cook for 3 hours or so, until the roast is easily pulled apart with a fork.


Add your carrots (must have) and potatoes (can omit) and return the pot to the oven.  


Cook for another hour or so, until the carrots and potatoes are tender.  If you omit the potatoes, follow step eleven with only carrots, but serve over warm egg noodles or rice.


When the beef is fall apart tender, remove it to a plate and cover to keep warm.  Thicken your gravy with cornstarch or flour (you may not need to, though...) and prep your noodles or rice.  I spoon a bit of the gravy on the warm noodles to coat and keep from sticking.

With a fork, shred your roast like so:

Finally, top the noodles, serve and enjoy!

***You may add green peppers, celery, other tubers of your choosing....  Make it your own!***


This would be fantastic spooned on hunks of crusty bread too!  Think: sandwiches!

Lamb Shank Rogan Josh

How better to to begin this culinary adventure, than to pay homage to an undisputed chunk of heaven on earth, Kashmir?  I love Rogan Josh, and I love grass fed new zealand lamb shanks.  Of course! Why had I never considered it before?


I was inspired, but how could I share my enthusiasm?  And so, we have begun our Culina Adventum.  An arrival of epic portions!  Proportions?


Anyway, here goes...


***then i realized the camera battery was dying and i had left the charger at work - photo documentation will be sparse - i'll try harder next time***


1. Grab a beer or a glass of wine and settle in...


2. Don't forget to put on your favorite music and make it loud.


3. Oh, and make sure you've got the ingredients:

• 4 lamb shanks (probably between 3-4 lbs.)(or 2 lbs. of cubed lamb)
• one large onion (not red)
• some cilantro
• vegetable oil (yes, olives are vegetables too)
• 4 cups of beef stock (only needed if you are doing shanks!)
• 1/2 cup yogurt (more fat, the better...)
• one hot pepper (I use frozen thai bird chiles, but you can use jalepeno, serano, whatever...)
• ginger (one chunk that fills the center of your palm)
• 6 cloves of garlic (or only 2 if you use asafoetida)
• 8 whole cloves
• 6 cardomom pods 
• 1 stick of cinnamon (3 in.)(broken into several pieces)
• 10 whole black pepper corns
• 1/4 tsp whole fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp of asafoetida (optional-use more garlic in you don't have this spice)
• a pinch of safron (optional)

Ahead of time:

• Safronize the yogurt. (Put the safron in the yogurt and let it sit at room temp until needed).
• Slice the onion.
• Put the garlic, ginger, and hot pepper along with a bit of water in a blender.  I use a "Magic Bullet" -one of those mini-cuisinart things you see on t.v.  Blend the ingredients until they form a paste.  Add water as necessary, if it is too dry.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Now for the nitty gritty:

1. Cover the bottom of a deep, heavy pan with olive oil (probably about 3 tbsp. or so).  The pan or pot that you use should accommodate the shanks without too much crowding. Over med-high heat, heat the oil until it starts to shimmer.  Brown the shanks as best as possible and then put aside.

2. Turn the heat down a bit (med. will do) and, in the hot oil, add the:

• 8 whole cloves
• 6 cardomom pods 
• 1 stick of cinnamon (3 in.)(broken into several pieces)
• 10 whole black pepper corns
• 1/4 tsp whole fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaves

3. When the cloves are swollen, the bay leaf is browning, and things are starting to pop out of the pot, add the onions and fry for a minute or so.

4. Then add the garlic, ginger, pepper paste and fry for another minute or so.

5. Get another beer, glass of vino, or your preference and relax, this is going to be great!

6. Now add the ground spices and fry for 30 seconds:

• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp of asafoetida (optional)

7. Add 1/2 cup of the stock and scrape the bottom of the pot, mixing well.  Then arrange the shanks in the pot and add more stock until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the shanks.

8. Put the shanks in the oven and bake for about 2 hours.  Remember to turn the shanks every 30 minutes or so.

**If you aren't using shanks, then forget the oven!  Add only a cup of water instead of the stock and return the curry to a boil.  Turn the heat down to a simmer and let the stuff bubble away for an hour or so.  The meat should be super-tender and the sauce thick and red.  Serve over rice.

9. In the meantime, make your favorite rice.

10. Remove the shanks from the oven, take the shanks out of the pot and cover to keep warm.

11. Put a tbsp. at a time of sauce into your yogurt and mix thoroughly, bringing the yogurt up to temp.  When you've added at least 5 or 6 tbsp., slowly stir the yogurt into the sauce in the pot.

12. Cook off any remaining water in the sauce (or add some cornstarch to thicken it).

13. Serve over rice.  Warm flatbread is good too.  Garnish with roughly chopped cilantro.

It seemed daunting at first, but in the end it was quite easy...

That was fun, right?

Stay tuned for more.  This will be good.