hearty autumn stew time - with a chocolatey twist

the cooler weather is the perfect excuse to start cooking up big batches of rich, warming stews and one of our favourites is alistair hendy's hungarian goulash from his indispensible book 'home cook'. the author himself doubts its hungarian authenticity, and i would think a goulash was more soupy than this intense stew, but noone can doubt the delicious comfort of this recipe. an easy and reliable one pot recipe to which i have got into the habit of adding about 25g of intense dark chocolate to at the end of cooking to rev the richness up a notch.

fantastic served with any of the following-

crusty bread and a simply dressed green salad

mashed potato

new potatoes

jacket potato

hungarian goulash (with the cocoa bean style)

serves 6

ingredients

1 kg stewing steak, cubed

3 tbsp seasoned plain flour

60g lard or 3 tbsp olive oil

2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks*

2 onions, finely sliced

2 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 big tbsp paprika

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

a small string tied bunch of fresh bay, thyme and parsley

750ml beef stock

25g dark chocolate*

1 x 250ml pot soured cream

handful of flat leaf parsley

method

1. toss the meat in the saesoned flour, brown all over in hot fat in a casserole until quite dark then lift out. Cook the meat in batches so as not to sweat the meat. Reserve the remaining flour.

2. next lightly blister the peppers by frying them in the remaining fat, remove and keep to one side. * I roast my peppers in the oven during the casseroles first half of cooking in the oven. I find there is never enough fat left at this stage and the lovely meaty/floury residues begin to catch at the temperature you need to cook the peppers at.

3. add the onion and garlic to the remaining fat in the pan, add a little more fat if required, and gently fry until well softened and touched with brown, then sprinkle over with paprika.

4. add the saved flour to the pan and stir through, cook for a few minutes more, stirring regularly to stop the floured onion catching.

5. add the tomatoes, stir through and bubble up. Add the meat and any collected juices along with the herbs and and enough stock to ensure the meat is completely covered. Bring to a bubble again.

6. put in a 150c oven and gently braise for 2 hours, stirring in the peppers and chocolate half way through the meat's cooking time.

7. serve with a dollop of soured cream and strewn with parsley.

also lovely if cooked the day before and reheated for 45 mins at 180c. garnish with the soured cream and parsley just before serving.

* cocoa bean twists