Andrássy-rostélyos

Ingredients

• 1¾ lbbeef rib steakroast beef or braising cut, 4 slices, patted dry
• 3 tbspflourfor coating the meat and thickening the sauce
• 2 tbsplardfor searing, or use clarified butter or oil
• 2onionfinely diced or sliced
• 2 clovesgarlicfinely chopped
• 10½ ozcarrotcut into fine sticks
• 7 ozparsley rootcut into fine sticks (optional)
• 3½ ozceleriaccut into fine sticks (optional)
• 1½ cupsbeef brothfor deglazing and braising
• 7 ozsour creamto finish the sauce or as a dollop on serving
• 2 tbspPaprika powdersweet, toast briefly
• 1 tbsptomato pastefor colour and depth
• 3tomatodiced, fresh or canned peeled
• 2bell pepperseeded, cut into strips
• ½ cupwinedry, or replace with stock; one source uses red wine (optional)
• 1bay leafbraise along
• 1 bunchparsleyfinely chopped, for seasoning and garnish
• 2 lbpotatoespeeled, quartered, braised alongside (optional)
• 1 tspmustardhot mustard, stirred into the vegetables (optional)
• 1 tbspwine vinegarfor acidity in the sauce (optional)
• 1 tspThymeleaves picked or dried (optional)
• 14⅛ ozMushroomscleaned, roughly halved (optional)
• 1 pinchcarawayground or whole (optional)
• 1 tspmarjoramdried (optional)
• saltto taste
• black pepperfreshly ground

Method

1. Trim the carrots, parsley root and celeriac and cut them into fine sticks. Finely chop the onions and garlic, seed the bell peppers and cut them into strips, dice the tomatoes, and chop the parsley and thyme.
2. Pat the beef slices dry, flatten them lightly, season with salt and pepper and turn them in flour.
3. Heat the lard in a heavy pan or braising pot and sear the slices of beef hard on both sides. Lift them out and set aside.
4. Fry the onions in the same fat until golden, then add the garlic and the vegetable sticks and let them sweat briefly.
5. Stir in the paprika powder and tomato paste, let them toast for only a few seconds, then deglaze immediately with the beef stock and white wine so the paprika doesn't turn bitter.
6. Season with salt, pepper, the bay leaf, thyme, marjoram, caraway, wine vinegar and mustard, and bring everything to the boil once.
7. Return the meat to the pot, cover and braise gently until tender; depending on the cut this takes around an hour. Add the potatoes, if using, along with the pepper strips and tomatoes about halfway through so they cook without falling apart, and if you're using mushrooms, clean them, halve them roughly and let them braise along from that point too.
8. Lift out the meat and keep it warm. Remove the bay leaf. Whisk the sour cream smooth with the remaining flour, stir it into the sauce and let it bubble briefly.
9. Taste the sauce, arrange the meat with the vegetables and sauce, scatter with chopped parsley and serve hot.

Tips and variations

The dish takes kindly to changes: if you'd rather not cook a side at all, braise potatoes, pepper strips, tomatoes and slices of Debreziner sausage right in the pot. Rouladen slices cut into pieces work in place of roast beef, and for something darker you can sear the meat, dice it and braise it with red wine, sweet and hot paprika, brown sugar and tomatoes for two and a half to three hours — egg noodles are good with that. You can also cook it in the oven at 180 °C, in a slow cooker or in a pressure cooker, using correspondingly less stock and, if you like, a splash of dark soy sauce. It works without wine too, just stock instead. To serve, add a dollop of sour cream on top and plenty of fresh parsley.