Goulash

Something from a while back. Very rich, very filling, very good.

Ingredients:

500 g stewing beef, cut up into 1 cm cubes
50 g oil
100 g onion
5 tsp paprika
1 chilli (or to taste)
2 litres water
2-3 potatoes
1.5 tsp salt
2 carrots
Parsley to taste (although I left this out and replaced it with celery)
1 tsp caraway (also known as fennel or cumin, I guess, or harilik köömen)
25 ml thick cream
For the dumplings:
1 egg
150 g flour

1) Dice onions and fry until soft.
2) Add 1 tsp paprika and the chilli.
3) Add beef, mix well, then add carrot, parsley/celery, cream and caraway seeds. As the mixture cooks, top up with water if it dries out.
4) Once the beef has cooked, cover with water and add diced potatoes and salt. Cook until soft.
5) Once potatoes are ready, mix the egg and flour together, break off small pieces to make dumplings, and boil the pastry until ready.

Pork, shallot and mushroom casserole

This is an adaptation of a recipe that I found on food24.com. Here's the original, but I've changed a few things. Make sure you add sherry. It really brings out the flavour.

Ingredients:

500-600g pork sirloin
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
4 big banana shallots, cut into quarters or eighths
2-4 cloves garlic
250-300 g regular button mushrooms
about 100 g chanterelles (kukeseened in Estonian. The original calls for 60 g porcini or shiitake mushrooms, covered with boiling water and left to rehydrate, but it's up to you).
fresh or dried sage (I used about 2 tsp of dried sage)
60-100 ml sherry (or Marsala wine, according to the original)
1 tsp wholegrain mustard (or 1 tbsp)
about 3/4 of a cup of relatively weak chicken stock
lemon juice
250-300 ml cream
salt and pepper to taste

1) Cover the pork with the Dijon mustard, salt and pepper and brown on all sides in a sufficiently large pot. Remove and put to one side.
2) Add shallots and garlic, cook until caramelised.
3) Add mushrooms, cook on high heat, and wait for liquid to evaporate (shouldn't take too long). Season well with salt and pepper.
4) Deglaze pot using sherry (or Marsala wine), and reduce by half.
5) Stir through wholegrain mustard.
6) Add stock, lemon juice, and cream.
7) Return pork to pot, cover with sauce and mushrooms. Cook for 20-25 min, turning halfway through. The sauce should reduce slightly and be a bit thicker than cream.
8) Once ready, remove from heat and leave to rest for 5 min.
9) Slice pork into 1 cm-thick slices, then return to sauce and heat through.
10) Serve with salad and mash (as we did) or with tagliatelle.