Hungarian Pot Roast

This is a recipe I saw here first, but it has been greatly, heavily modified...Mainly by the fact that it seems I somehow forgot how to recipe halfway through, but it still turned out absolutely amazing.

You can thank my sister-in-law for the punctuality of this recipe.  I'm usually a few days behind in posting, but I just made this yesterday afternoon and, after she sampled it, was told it was to be posted today so she could thaw her pot roast and make it, and she could totally kick my ass, so here it is.  =P

Start off with a roast.  This was about 1 3/4 pounds.  The recipe calls for a rump roast, but I couldn't locate one at the store I was at, so I just grabbed a chuck roast.  Rub it down with sea salt and black pepper, put it in a heated skillet with about 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium-high heat and let it brown on all sides.  You may want to kick the heat up a little if you're not using cast iron.

Here's where my version of the recipe became truly my version.  And I totally did it on purpose.  I forgot my roast was half the size of the one in the other recipe and ended up with double vegetables and gravy.  While the roast is browning, cut up 4 medium onions into thick slices.  I used white.

Once the roast is browned on all sides, put it in the crock pot (which should not be on yet), add another tablespooon of olive oil to the skillet, then toss in the onions and 2 heaping teaspoons of paprika.  Cook that, moving the onions frequently so they cook evenly, until they are soft and browned.

Add to the crock pot.

After the onions are out of the skillet, put it back on the stove and pour in 2 cups of beef broth.  Use a spatula or something with a flat end to scrape the drippings from the onions and roast off the bottom of the pan so the incorporate into the broth.  Let it cook down until it reduces by half.  Should only take a few minutes.  When that's done, pour it into the crock pot, too.

Drain some roasted red peppers....

Add those and a can of diced tomatoes (don't drain the tomatoes) to the crock pot, give it a stir, and season with pepper.  Set it on high, put the lid on, and let it cook for 3-4 hours or until it is tender when you fork it.  (heh.  heheh.)  After it cools enough to take the crock out, drain off the juice and save it.  Put the vegetables back in the crock and turn the crock pot down to warm.

The recipe said to slice the roast at this point, but mine just sort of fell apart when I poked at it with the tongs...

...so I just put it back in the crock pot and stirred it up with the vegetables.

 Remember that juice you saved?  Put it in a sauce pan and cook it down until it reduces by half.

Once it reduces by half, remove it from the heat, whisk in 1.5 cups of sour cream and it will form a gravy, then pour it over the roast and vegetables in the crock and let sit on warm or low until it is all heated through, then you're ready to go.

I'd planned to make sides with it, but since I ended up with double vegetables already and there's just the two of us I decided to skip it.  I've been making exceptionally ugly-looking recipes lately, I know, but this stuff just tastes incredible and is definitely worth trying.  I'll be cooking this one again.  

<3

WW

Goodness on Rice

I have no idea what to call this dish.  It was born out of necessity and turned out to be so incredible that I can not wait to cook it again.  Its one of those dishes that really doesn't look so hot, but it tastes like absolute Southern Heaven.

First,  you need about a half pound of skirt steak that is pre-seasoned for fajita meat.  Or you could just use regular skirt steak and season it yourself.  Also, start out with a large pot.  I started out with that one thinking it would be enough, but since I'm an idiot it boiled over and I had to switch and then wash TWO pots.  I'm a fucking genius, you'll catch on to that.  Put that puppy on high.

Add one small, chopped onion and about 3 cloves of minced garlic.  I didn't take a picture of that...See "fucking genius" statement above for explanation.

Anywho, let that shit boil for about 3 hours, or until the skirt steak starts to fall apart.  Don't forget to keep adding water, just enough to cover things is fine.

Once it looks about like the above, its time to add this:

Mmm...Mustard and turnip greens.  Once these are in the pot, leave it on high and keep doing the whole "add water" thing.

Next, its time for rice.  Since I don't have a fine mesh strainer, I used the toe of some unused stockings I mauled and turned into leggings, which worked great...The leggings and the strainer.

Rinse the rice through the stocking, (or your mesh strainer if you're lucky enough to have one), until the water runs clear.  Then, soak the rice in some water for 30 minutes.  After that, let it drain.  I tied the stocking to my faucet for the draining.  Be sure to let it drain well, because you don't want more water in when you cook it than you think.  Unless you want soggy rice.

After that, cook the rice as normal.  I used 1 cup of rice, 1 3/4 cups of water, a dash of salt, and a tablespoon of olive oil.  After it has cooked, let it rest, covered, for 30 minutes.  This does make a huge difference.

Once your rice is almost rested, your greens and stuff should have boiled down to where everything is nice and shredded and there is only a bit of excess water, like so:

Once it looks like that, add a packet of brown gravy mix and stir it all up well.  Take it off the heat and let it stand, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes so it can thicken and turn into the awesomeness it is destined to be.

Plate it up, and there you go.  This is the only shot that wasn't blurry since it smelled soooooo good and I was in a huge hurry to start shoving it into my face.  This stuff will probably, sooner or later, be named a sin by the Catholic Church.  Its.  That.  Damned.  Good.

Would love feedback if you give this a shot. 

<3

The Wookie Wifey