Everything is Always Rosie: Kartoffel Goulash (Potato Goulash)

Last night, I made a wonderful dish that my mom often made when I was growing up. It is called "Kartoffel Goulash" and is fast and very good. My family is from Austria, where this type of food is common - a little like our chili in North America. It is a one-pot dish and when served over plain rice, is warming and very hearty on cold Autumn nights.

This type of meal is, I am sure, a type of "peasant meal" - no costly ingredients or high-fallutin' techniques required, but as I need to clean out my freezer, I have been pulling out everything and making meals from what I have. The magic ingredient in this is: wait for it..... wieners! Yes, the unassuming wiener. I will bet you could never imagine a great meal being made from the humble wiener.

Well, here is my mom's recipe in all its "knack wurst" glory:

Kartoffel Goulash

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2 medium onions - finely chopped (I used 1 1/2 onions)

Approx. 1 1/2 T. Paprika

Approx. 5-6 potatoes - uncooked, peeled and cubed

Approx. 5-6 c. Water

1 beef cube or buillion package

1-2 red peppers - chopped

5-6 wieners - chopped

Salt and pepper

2-3 slices bacon - optional (I didn't use this)

Garlic - minced (I didn't use this)

Caraway seeds (I didn't use this)

Olive oil

Approx. 1 T. Cornstarch

In a large Dutch oven, sauté the onions in a little olive oil until browned. I always use red onions for my cooking: they aren't as harsh as white ones. The secret to a good goulash according to my mom, is that you use as much onion as you have meat. I probably didn't use quite that much, but the idea is to not be shy; use a lot of onion.

Once the onions are brown, add the paprika and stir into the onions. Next, add the red pepper and cubed potatoes.

These were all the potatoes I had. I would use about 6 larger potatoes for this recipe.

Next, add enough water to cover everything and add the beef buillion package. Stir and simmer covered, at med-low until the potatoes are cooked.

Once the potatoes are cooked, add the wieners. In my picture at the beginning of the recipe, you can see the variety of frozen wieners I had in my freezer. I used 3 regular beef wieners, 1 European wiener and 2 knack wurst. Any combination will do. It would even be alright to use all regular wieners, but the smokiness of a smokie or knack wurst really adds a lot of flavour. Simmer for a few more minutes to warm the wieners.

To thicken the sauce, scoop about 4-5 T. of the goulash broth into a separate cup or mug. Add 1 T. of cornstarch into the broth and stir with a fork until all of the cornstarch is dissolved. Add back this broth into the goulash while it is still simmering and use the fork to stir it in and incorporate it into the goulash mixture. Stir quickly as you do not want lumps. My mom always uses milk (instead of the goulash broth) with the cornstarch, but I use the goulash broth itself.

Haha!!!! Don't do this!!!! I wasn't thinking and added baking powder instead of cornstarch the first time. It was like a science experiment, bubbling all over the counter!