In this special weekly feature, “Today” food editor Phil Lempert brings you recipes “stolen” (with permission) from notable restaurants across America. See how much fun you can have (and money you can save) by cooking these dishes at home.
THIS WEEK: Hungarian Beef and Herbed Spätzle from Wallsé in New York City.
Brrrr ... it's pretty cold out there. Talk about a need for comfort food. This week we "stole" a native Hungarian dish popular in central Europe — the goulash. Hungarian goulash is very different from American goulash, often the only resemblance is the usage of beef and tomatoes. For those who don't know what goulash is, it's a rich stew but low maintenance so you can focus on keeping your toes toasty. The recipe calls for Hungarian paprika, which is stronger and spicier than the paprika that's common in most grocery stores, but it's worth the extra effort. Unlike American goulash, which usually uses hamburger meat, this recipe uses shin meat which has more flavor and results in a thicker soup. You can serve your goulash over rice, pasta or even buttered noodles, but we love Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner's spätzle, literally translated from German to mean "little sparrow." It's homemade pasta or noodles, depending on how you shape it. If you have leftovers, spätzle's delicious pan-fried with some butter and onions.
left/msnbc/Components/Photos/061212/061212_tdy_food_ccol10a.jpg1718100000left#000000http://msnbcmedia.msn.comWallséKurt Gutenbrunner, chef, Wallse Restaurant, 344 West 11th Street, and, Cafe Sabarsky, 1048 Fifth Ave., both Manhattan, May 3, 2002.Kurt Gutenbrunner1PfalsefalseAbout 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 and patissier at Tantris; Windows of the World's Cellar in the Sky; at Bouley in New York; chef de cuisine at Bistro Terrine; and Munich's Mangostin where he learned contemporary Asian-influenced cuisine. Gutenbrunner returned to New York in 1996 to become culinary director of David Bouley’s expanding Bouley enterprise, and in 1997, became 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 siecle Kaffeehaus to accompany the opening of the Neue Galerie, the showcase for Ronald Lauder’s lifelong devotion to 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 many paths available in a dynamic cuisine of a small nation that borders six countries.
Hungarian Beef Goulash and Herbed Spätzle is served at Wallsé for $19 with roasted peppers. The recipe is for a serving size of two.
Wallsé
344 West 11th Street
New York, N.Y. 10014
212-352-2309
www.wallserestaurant.com
Want to nominate your favorite restaurant dish for a "Steal This Recipe" feature? Just e-mail Phil at Phil.Lempert@nbc.com (or use the mail box below) with the name of the restaurant, city and state, and the dish you would like to have re-created. Want to know more about Phil and food? Visit his Web site at www.supermarketguru.com.