Slow Cooker Beef Goulash

My slow cooker has been kicked into high gear lately.  Based on my blog’s stats, you guys love a good slow cooker meal, and for that, I’m thankful…because I feel like I’m throwing a lot of them at you!!

With two active girls at home, our pre-dinner time of day is pretty busy shuttling them around to different activities.  We like to keep a pretty strict schedule around here while we still can.  I’m realistic and know that, at some point, their schedules will be so out of sync with each other that things will fall apart in that regard, but we keep things stable while we can.  Bedtimes for the kids are still at a reasonable time, so dinner needs to be too.  It’s nice to walk in from picking the kids up and have dinner pretty much ready to serve up as we walk in the door.

This is a great ready-to-go meal for a busy winter night.  It’s hearty, and cozy and a great way to settle down a busy evening.

I started by mixing together my aromatics.  In a small bowl, I stirred together a lot of chopped onion (Three whole onions!), some tomato paste, a hefty dose of sweet Hungarian paprika, some vegetable oil, minced garlic, and a teaspoon of caraway seeds.

I stirred it all together, and let it cook in the microwave for about five minutes, just until the onion had softened.  Then, I poured it into my slow cooker.

To the slow cooker, I added some chicken broth, soy sauce, a quarter-cup of Minute tapioca (to help thicken things up), and some bay leaves.

I stirred that all up and then nestled in chunks of a boneless beef chuck roast, that I’d cut into pieces, salted, and peppered.

Once the meat was settled in, I put the cover on the slow cooker and let it cook on low for about nine hours.

When we got back home from gymnastics, I cooked some egg noodles on the stove top, and as they were cooking, turned off the heat and let the goulash settle for a few minutes.  I skimmed the fat from the sauce, and removed the bay leaves.

Then, I whisked together a cup of the sauce with some sour cream.  Bringing the sour cream to temperature with some of the sauce before whisking it into the rest of the sauce assures that the finished product won’t be curdled and clumpy.

I poured the sour cream mixture into the slow cooker, and stirred it in until it was evenly combined.  And then, I finished off the goulash with some fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper.

I served it up over buttered noodles, with a little more chopped parsley on top.  The sauce was rich, and full of savory winter spice.  The beef was tender, and delicious.  And really, who doesn’t like buttered noodles?  It was a great way to slow down our day.  As the snowflakes settled outside, our day settled down too, and my little family started a cozy evening inside, in a perfectly delicious way.

SLOW COOKER GOULASH

Adapted from Slow Cooker Revolution