Autumn is hands down my favourite time of year, something Mr C has never quiet fully gotten his head around. I put it down to the fact that I was a December baby so I love Winter as it’s Birthday and Christmas time and I especially love the build up to it in Autumn. It’s a time when the pace of life slows and we find ourselves re-calibrating after the joys of summer and focusing on home, fires, stews, dark evenings, box sets and the odd glass of red wine. It’s the ultimate cosy time.
We love to forage in Autumn, it’s that time of year when there is so much wild food about. I’ve often written here about Sunday afternoons spent in the woods with the children gathering mushrooms. These are the days when I want to be relaxed about cooking. I want to come home to the warmth of the oven and the smell of something homely and tasty the minute I open the door.
When Knorr Ireland approached me and asked me to collaborate with them by creating a recipe using their Stockpots I knew almost straight away that with the time of year it was going to have to be something really comforting. I love stews and casseroles and as I’m trying to change things up with more variety in the meat I cook a Pork Goulash came to mind.
I had recently cooked a really delicious Beef Goulash from a wonderful Cookbook I was gifted this Summer on a trip to Dingle, called Dingle Dinners. The Recipe was from Maja Beaujouan. What I loved about the recipe in this book was her use of tomato puree. She uses almost a full tube of it in her recipe but it lends to a wonderful burst of tomato and also gives a smooth texture to the sauce so I’ve kept this element in my recipe too. The caraway seeds lend a lovely undertone and the parpika gives a nice punchiness. I’ve used white wine to go with the pork but you can use red wine if you prefer.
The gnocchi makes a wonderful change from potatoes, it’s also perfect when you don’t feel like spending time at the sink peeling. When the gnocchi is pan fried it develops a gorgeous crispy outside. You could just coat the gnocchi with garlic butter and eat it from the pan as it’s so good but I love the sprinkle of parmesan on it for this dish as it compliments the tomato in the goulash.
I dare you not to fall in love with this ultimate Autunm/Winter Warmer……#KnorrIreland #collaboration #ad
Ingredients:
- 600g pork shoulder, cubed
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
- 2-3 carrots, chopped
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped into cubes
- 250 ml of white wine
- 1-1.25 ltrs of Knorr Chicken Stock made from Knorr Chicken Stock Pots
- 125g of tomato puree
- 2 tbsp of sweet paprika
- 1 tsp of hot smoked paprika
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tbsp oil
For The Gnocchi
- 1 pkt of gnocchi
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- parmesan
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 150 deg or gas mark 2. Heat a heavy based casserole dish. When it’s hot add in half of the oil then add the onions and garlic, lower the heat cover and sweat for 10 mins. Half way through add the carrots and red peppers, continue to sweat.
- Once the veg has sweat down nicely remove it from the casserole and place it on a plate. Pour in the remaining oil, season the pork well with salt and pepper and place it in the dish in batches browning all over.
- Return the vegetables to the casserole dish with all of the pork. Add the caraway seeds and both of the paprika’s. Stir well to combine everything and cook for about 1 minute.
- Turn the heat up, pour in the wine letting it bubble and cook down by a half. Add in the tomato puree and stock stirring well.
- Season with salt and pepper and place in the oven to cook low and slow for about 21/2 hours.
- Serve with Parmesan Fried Gnocchi from below and a good dollop of sour cream.
For The Gnocchi
- Heat a frying pan and when it’s hot pour in the olive oil. Add the gnocchi and give the pan a shake to evenly distribute/coat the gnocchi.
- Let the gnocchi go crisp and golden on one side before turning it. Once it’s nicely golden all over season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and grate heaps of fresh parmesan all over it.
