Wednesday 29 January 2014

Chili Spiced Polenta with Beany Goulash

Rocket & Roses HQ Play List:

Edgar Winter ft Slash ~ Winter Road
K.D Lang ~ The Consequences of Falling
Guns N' Roses ~ Yesterdays
Peter Gabriel ~ The Book of Love
Sinatra ~ Goody Goody
Bonnie Raitt ~ My Opening Farewell
Gina Sicilia ~ I Ain't Crazy
Andrea Bocelli ~ Vivo Per Lei
The Bryan Ferry Orchestra ~ Don't Stop The Dance
KORN ~ Let's Do This Now
Def Leppard ~ Rocket
Edwyn Collins ~ A Girl Like You
Europe ~ Flames
Thunder ~ The Only One 

This recipe intrigued me when it found its way to my Pinterest feed so I hastily followed the link through to the folks over at myinspiration. Now the original recipe calls for a fava bean goulash and earlier in the week I'd had a nasty experience with dried fava beans (nope..not saying..but the remaining beans are now pushed to the back of the stocks cupboard..lol) so I decided to sub them out for borlotti beans. The original recipe also calls for an avocado cream but I made the decision to leave that out. I'm having Avo issues lately. But other than these changes I stuck to the recipe as instructed and as always for the original recipe please click the link above. 

Now I have a love hate relationship with polenta but it is a food I want to love. Once again its the whole texture issue for me as it was once served to me and had the chewy rubbery texture I loath. But since I've been been GF I have been experimenting with it and I am well on the way to enjoying the yellow gloop. When making the polenta for this recipe I was stood there shaking my head, saying to myself this is so much polenta for two people. lol. And after a strenuous whisking, where my rather wimpy plastic whisk left me with an almost sprained wrist, I was left with a very beautiful tray of spiced polenta setting in a baking dish. 

The beany goulash was very easy to make and also a aromatic delight but then I have always loved the smell of a good veggie goulash cooking away. And I think the borlotti really worked well alongside the kidney beans. The sauce was perfect in its richness. The results of the spicy polenta combined with the intense goulash was for me...perfect. I loved the intensity of each mouthful with the very spicy polenta and rich goulash flavours. I wasn't sure if there would be too many competing flavours but they worked well. As I suspected the polenta was far too much for the Serves 2 suggestion as it made a full dinner plate size serving. So I quartered mine and stashed two pieces in the freezer to see it freezes well and then to use at a later date. However the goulash is a good two servings. This recipe isn't just a meal...it's an event.

Chili Spiced Polenta with Beany Goulash

Chilli Spiced Polenta with Beany Goulash     Serves 2
(Recipe from myinspiration)

For the polenta:

200g polenta 
1 ltr veggie stock 
2 tsp red chili flakes 
1 tsp thyme 
1.5 tbsp pumpkin seeds, finely chopped 
pinch of black pepper 

For the goulash:

1/2 onion, finely chopped (I used one small) 
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed 
1 can fava beans, drained and rinsed  (I used borlotti)
I large carrot, peeled and chopped 
1 tbsp paprika 
1/2 tsp black pepper 
1 tsp thyme 
1 can chopped tomatoes
1.5 tbsp tomato paste 
2 bay leaves 

Prepare the polenta, add the stock to a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, add the polenta, spice and pumpkin seeds and stir, it get thick pretty quickly, so really beat it to make sure it's well mixed through, cook like this for 3-5 minutes, then pour into a lined square baking tray, mine is 8" square, smooth it out so it's even and just leave to set, about 20-25 minutes. 

A large and deep set spicy polenta...huge!  I wasn't kidding lol

Now make the goulash - in a medium saucepan over a medium heat, add 2 tbsp water, add the onion, garlic , paprika and thyme and cook for 3 minute before adding the remaining ingredients, add 1/2 cup of water and stir everything together, cover and cook on a low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the bay leave before serving. 

To serve, slice the polenta and top with the goulash. 

Enjoy! 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Wednesday is a very good one... 

~Red~ 

NB: This recipe is not mine and therefore I take no credit for it whatsoever. It is the hard work and creative talent of the folks over at myinspiration and theirs alone. I thank them for such a great recipe. ~R~