DIVINE soup recipe

I am not a fundi in the kitchen. I don't generally enjoy spending time in it, and as a result I find meal planning to be such a chore. This month I bought the Your Family magazine (this mag has become really relevant to my lifestyle, and I'll always admit a certain loyalty to the magazine, since it was the first one I worked on), and immediately decided to try two of the recipes featured, one of which was a chunky goulash soup.

So S and I had some fun in the kitchen last night - now that would be having fun cooking, so get your mind out of where it was :-)

This recipe is so easy - and so yummy!!

Here it is. Enjoy! (was so busy concentrating on the recipe that I didn't even think to take pics, but believe me when I say that it looks good!)

Instead of using separate onions and tomatoes, I used two tins of tomato & onion mix as I already had those in the cupboard - so I have changed the original recipe a little to suit.

Serves 4 / Prep 15 mins / Cook 1 hour 30 min

1 tsp olive or avocado oil

500g beef chunks

2 x tins of tomato & onion mix

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1tsp sweet paprika

3.5 cups (875ml) beef stock (we used two stock cubes to 875ml of water)

2 potatoes, peeled and cubed

salt and freshly ground black pepper

sour cream and chopped chives to serve

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the beef until browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2. Add the carrots and tomato & onion mix to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes or until carrots are soft.

3. Add the garlic, paprika and stock to the pan. Stir to combine then add the beef. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered for an hour or until the steak is tender.

4. Add the potato and cook uncovered for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened and the potato is tender. We then left the soup to simmer, covered, on low for an extra 30 minutes.

Tip: If freezing, leave the potatoes out - they apparently don't freeze well.

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!

Sitting here typing up this recipe has reminded me of those days 10 years ago when I used to sit outside the current Editor's office at Your Family magazine, typing up recipes and patterns for the designers to lay out - wow. A real blast from the past!

xx