Steal This Recipe® Hungarian Beef Goulash and Spätzle | Wallsé, NYC

Recipes
January 10, 2013

From Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner

From Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner of Wallsé, NYC, this recipe will keep the winter chills away! Beef Goulash and Spätzle is a native Hungarian dish popular in central Europe; unlike American goulash which usually uses hamburger meat Hungarian Goulash uses shin meat which is more flavorful and results in a thicker soup. The recipe calls for Hungarian paprika which is stronger and spicier than regular paprika, but it's worth the extra effort.

Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner's Spätzle is the perfect Goulash accompaniment. Translated from German to mean "little sparrow", it is homemade pasta or noodles, depending on how you shape it. If you have leftovers, Spätzle is delicious pan-fried with butter and onions.

About the chef: Having grown up around the garden-centered cooking of a small village on the Danube River, Kurt Gutenbrunner decided that he wanted to become a chef at age 14 and promptly enrolled in a professional hotel and restaurant school, where he obtained a degree in culinary arts. At the age of 16, Gutenbrunner began apprenticing at the Relais et Chateau Richard Löwenherz in the Wachau region, where he developed an appreciation for the wine of that region, which is featured heavily in his restaurants today.

Next, Gutenbrunner journeyed to Switzerland to work at Crans Montan in the Wallis Valley, before heading to Vienna to work at the Rotisserie Prinz Eugen. Gutenbrunner worked as a saucier, poissonnier, patissier and chef de cuisine and continued his career in New York, becoming the executive chef at Monkey Bar.

Gutenbrunner's first restaurant Wallsé opened in 2000. Shortly after in 2001, Gutenbrunner was asked to open a café, based on the fin de siècle Kaffeehaus, to accompany the opening of the Neue Galerie which showcases German and Austrian art. Gutenbrunner opened Blaue Gans, a casual Austrian restaurant and beer hall, in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood in winter 2005. As with all of his restaurant projects, Gutenbrunner aims to break stereotypes and explore the dynamic cuisine of a small nation that borders six countries.

Wallsé 
344 West 11th Street 
New York, New York 10014 
212 352 2309

Hungarian Beef Goulash and Spätzle is served at Wallsé with roasted peppers. 
The recipe is for a restaurant serving size of two.

Hungarian Beef Goulash Ingredients:
1 1/4 beef shin meat (trimmed of fat and cut into 1" pieces) 
1 1/2 Spanish onions, finely diced 
3/4 Tbsp Hungarian paprika 
1/2 Tbsp tomato paste 
1/4 Tbsp marjoram 
1/4 pinch ground caraway seeds 
1/4 bay leaf 
1/4 garlic clove, chopped 
Water 
Salt and pepper to taste

Spätzle Ingredients: 
4 ounces flour 
1 egg 
4 ounces quark (curded cheese similar to cream cheese or ricotta) 
1 Tbsp cream 
Salt, pepper and nutmeg

Steal This Recipe® Step-by-Step Instructions for the Goulash: 
Sauté onions until caramelized and add garlic. 
Add paprika, tomato paste, marjoram, caraway and cook for two minutes longer stirring constantly so as to not scorch the paprika. 
Add beef and enough water to just barely cover the meat. 
Add bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. 
Reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for at least one hour, stirring constantly. 
Goulash is done when the meat is tender, adjust seasoning to taste.

Steal This Recipe® Step-by-Step Instructions for the Spätzle: 
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. 
Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Add the eggs, cream, quark and mix together. 
Press the dough through a Spätzle machine (or cut into slivers) into salted, boiling water. 
Boil it up once and cool Spätzle in ice water. 
Take refreshed Spätzle out of the ice bath and add a bit of olive oil to prevent sticking. 
When ready to use, reheat with a touch of cream and season again to taste.