I came closer last night to duplicating my Dad's goulash. It was a bit too sweet though. The sweetness came because I cheated, by accident.
I never purchase tomato products that are pre-seasoned. I like to season to my tastes, not to someone who tries to please everyone from some food lab. I accidentally purchased pre-seasoned, diced tomatoes, DeLallo brand. I tasted the can juice and then looked at the can. In any case, I found the product reasonable. So I browned half a pound of ground beef, cut an onion into fourths, from top to bottom, then in half to make nice slices of that wonderful veggie. Got a half pound of portabellas going on the stove, and added the onion. I cooked them, but only partially. I then added the ground beef and browned it until done. Pour that into a pot with the canned tomato, add 1 tsp each, dried basil, dried oregano, and dried thyme. Two cloves of crushed garlic rounded out the flavor. I let that cook for ten minutes, then added 1 cup of uncooked, whole wheat, penne pasta, and let it absorb the extra moisture from the diced tomato. I cooked that for 15 minutes.
Maybe a bit of salt would have balanced the overly sweet diced tomato. But all in all, it was very nice. I'm eating left-overs for lunch today. I only wish I had some freshly grated Parmesiano Regiano to put on top. That would take it over the top.
Do you know how long I've worked to make goulash as good as my Dad's? As I've said before, my parents didn't cook nearly the variety of foods that I cook. But what they did cook, and that was a substantial variety, they cooked very well.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
