portlandia foods

Cooking With Christie!

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This Week’s Recipe: Swiss Steak

I’m sure it will surprise no one that I’m a huge fan of cookbooks – vintage ones especially. Well, with everything that’s happened over the past year I haven’t been able to haunt the used bookshops and antique/neat junk stores. But recently I did make my first foray to a bookshop for the first time in over a year and found this fun little gem on the shelf.

I do love Betty Crocker cookbooks! (BTW- did you know Betty Crocker isn’t a real person? Just a marketing ploy from way back when?) In any case – I decided to make Swiss Steak, asI remember eating it as a kid and wanted to see if I still liked it!

The biggest alterations I made to the recipe: I used a can of fire roasted tomatoes (for a bit more flavor), I added two handfuls of fresh cherry tomatoes cut in half (to help freshen the taste), added a tablespoon of Portland spicy Worcestershire sauce (cause I love it) and an extra bell pepper (cause I love extra veggies)

Served over mashed potatoes – it was as lovely as I remember it being!

Agatha Christie: This homey dish is one I definitely can see Miss Marple serving. Especially because you can church it up by serving it over gnocchi or a fancy pasta – for the occasional Tuesday night dinner party attended by Sir Henry Clithering.

Cooking With Christie!

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This Week’s Recipe: Hungarian Goulash

I’m a fan of make ahead meals. Too tired to make something healthy for dinner? Head to your deep freeze, pop it in a pot to warm up and voila – a nutritious meal in minutes.

Recently I’ve become a big fan of this particular recipe. Though it isn’t a particularly quick one. (Hence why I make it ahead. Plus, it always tastes better the next day!)

And of course, because I can’t help myself, I didn’t follow the recipe exactly….

I add an extra bell pepper, an extra carrot or two, a six ounce can of tomato paste (as I always loose the tubes of tomato paste in my fridge), and if I have extra cherry tomatoes I will toss them in as well.

Then I double the Worcestershire sauce. (A great spicy one from Portlandia Foods and no I’m not being paid to plug them I just love their product!) Then cut the 3 Tsp of beef bullion down to 1.5 tsp tomato/chicken bullion (otherwise it gets a bit salty).

However the biggest change: Rather than using a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up – I use potato flakes instead. They work like a dream. I also omit the Yukon potatoes called for at the tail end of the recipe. (As they don’t freeze well.) Instead, after I reheat the goulash, I serve it over buttery mash potatoes!

Seriously this is now one of my absolute favorite dishes now!

(And kudos to carlsbadcravings.com where I found the instructions – they not only give you the crockpot method – but oven and stove top methods as well. Plus tips on how to freeze/reheat the goulash!)

Agatha Christie: This is a dish I can see Tuppence making for the same reasons I do! With three kids, a husband and a dog (though they do have a butler) I think she needs all the shortcuts she can find to fit in all that detecting and spying.