MINI SERIES: Twelve Recipes of Christmas - Recipe 5: Grandma Laverne's Goulash
If you can recall back to my Instagram and Facebook message posting about this family recipe, you will know it is one of my husband’s childhood favorites. His birthday is in December so for a special treat I decided to make him his mom’s goulash for dinner. You also may recall that this was also a recipe that took a lot of trial and error. Once I had figured out the specific combination to make it “just like mom’s” you bet your butt I wrote all the details down on a recipe card for safe keeping. We used to make this a lot more frequently but after working on not eating as much pasta (I know so sad!), I was glad to have a recipe that had the precise measurements to making this perfect, just as he (and I) had grown to remember. My husband and I have been together for 10 years, married for almost 4 – I don’t recall the specific time frame I decided to try and make this for him, but because he love his mom’s goulash so much, I wanted to be sure to learn the recipe from his mom so I could also make it for him. It was sort of a Goldilock-esque adventure with lots of “this batch was too tomato-ey” or “this batch didn’t have enough cheese” to find the “just right” combination of sauce, meat, pasta, cheese ratio to make this dish perfect.
To start off let’s discuss pasta. Did you know that different size pasta means the flavor is different somehow? You can fight me on this point if you would like, however I will hopefully prove it to you if you ever trial and error this dish with different pasta sizes. Shells. Pasta shells are what is used for this recipe. Specifically, medium shells. The little ones are too little and don’t get enough hamburger nuggets of yumminess because they are too small, whereas the large shells (not even the large ones for stuffed shells) are too big; so the Medium Shells are the best size for not only hiding away little surprise meat nuggets but also to get a perfect saucy coverage for the perfect bite.
First, in a large pot you want to start your water and bring to a boil. THIS RECIPE DOES NOT SALT THE WATER! (My Italian influences may consider this blasphemous but trust me, it isn’t the right recipe if the water is salted).
While that is going, in a large skillet (one with high sides is the best) you want to brown your ground beef. Leave the ground beef in large to medium chunks (we aren't making tacos here, people). You can season with salt and pepper to taste, but mildly so, as I don’t believe the recipe originally calls for any seasoning at this point.
Once the ground beef is cooked through, you will add two 10 ¾ oz cans of Campbell's condensed tomato soup to the ground beef and stir together until well mixed. DO NOT ADD WATER. Use only the contents of the canned soup. Let that sit and bubble for a few minutes.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook 8-10 minutes or until al dente, or according to package directions. You do NOT want to overcook the pasta otherwise the dish will become GoulMUSH.
While the pasta is cooking, you will need to add the cheese to the sauce. Unwrap 5 slices of Velveeta (HAS TO BE VELVEETA – Kraft will NOT work for it to be this recipe) and lay them over the sauce in a single layer.
As they begin to melt, carefully stir together to fully melt and incorporate into the cheese.
Now here is the funny
part. I am guessing the following occurred because we scaled back the dish when
we made it for ourselves (there are already usually leftovers for the two of us
when we make this scale of the recipe – my husband’s mom usually made it for 4-8
people at family dinners) but this is just a weird “science”, if you will, to
making this “just right”. First time I made
this on my own, as I mentioned earlier, there wasn’t enough cheese. So, the next
time I made the goulash, I added an extra slice of cheese, but then it was “too
cheesy” and although still “good” wasn’t mom’s goulash – and by golly I was
going to make it “just right” for the love of my life. So, the next time (and
every time since) I’ve added ½ - ¾ of a slice of cheese. Yes. You read that
correctly. Once the initial 5 cheese
slices have melted and been mixed into the meat sauce, I add 1 more whole
slice, then add ½ a Velveeta slice, let it disappear into the volcano lava
sauce of molting goodness, then taste it. If it isn’t quite right, I add ½ of
the remaining ½ of cheese or sometimes the rest of the slice. (The below photo is of me holding onto the other 1/2 to show that I DID NOT ADD IT - shortly after this photo was taken the extra 1/2 slice met its savory demise by my mouth - yes cheese was harmed in the making of this recipe but I savored every bit, none went to waste nor sacrificed in vain).
As I write this out, I am thinking that perhaps there is a slight variation in the tomato-ey-ness of the soups that could throw the dish off balance to require such an expert fromager decision? Once the last of the cheese has been melted and mixed together, the sauce should have a sort of orange tinge to it and your pasta should be done.
Drain the pasta thoroughly shaking any excess water (you don’t want to water down your sauce) but do not rinse the pasta. At this point I like to put the pasta back into the large pot (now empty) it had been cooked in and pour the meat sauce mixture into the larger pot, covering the pasta. This vessel makes it easier to stir and mix together. Gently fold the pasta and sauce together trying not to mash the pasta while stirring together (no you see why a vital step is not overcooking the shells!)?
Finally, it is done and ready to be served.
You can serve with some sprinkled Parmesan or as is, depending on taste, and we almost always have some sort of garlic bread or roll to sop up all that delicious sauce.
This recipe holds a special place in my heart, no matter how unconventional of a traditional goulash it may be, as its story is a part of my husband and I’s relationship and story together. I found out a few years after figuring out how to make it that in all actuality it isn’t his mom’s goulash recipe either, but rather his paternal grandma Laverne’s recipe that my husband’s mom learned to make for my father-in-law because it was one of his favorites, too. So here I am, the next generation of wife who is simply trying to make something memorable for her husband from his childhood. And that is one of the many reasons why I love food and am especially enjoying cooking through family history.
NEXT EPISODE - MINI SERIES CONT.: Twelve Recipes of Christmas #6 - Apple Cream Cake
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SCRAPPY GIDGET'S VERSION OF GRANDMA LAVERNE'S GOULASH
with inspiration and guidance from my beautiful mother-in-law
Ingredients:
1 lb 96% ground beef 8 oz - Medium Pasta Shells
6-1/2 - 7 slices of Velveeta Cheese Slices
2 - 10 3/4 oz cans of Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup
Water for boiling
(optional side of garlic bread)
Directions:
1) Brown the meat, leaving in medium to large chunks
2) Boil UNSALTED water for pasta, cook to al dente
3) In the pan with browned meat, add 2 cans of condensed tomato soup, Mix together and bring to simmer.
4) Once meat mixture is bubbling, add 5 slices of Velveeta Cheese slices in a single layer and let melt, mixing together, as needed, until well incorporated
5) Once cheese has melted, add remaining 2 slices to pan in single layer and let melt.
6) Combine with drained pasta, serve immediately.
Top with grated Parmesan cheese if desired. Serves 4-6
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