Lamb meatball goulasch

Purists amongst you will shiver at such a travesty of traditional fare, but, once in a while, when you are standing in the supermarket wondering what to have for supper - cheap, tasty, easy, try this. For two:-

A pack of Lamb meatballs

A largeish onion

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

3/4 tin of beef consomme (or your own stock - much better)

A level teaspoon of black peppercorns and ditto pink if you have them

A heaped teaspoon of hot smoked paprika ("Dahlia" is good)

3 Heaped teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika (ditto)

2 heaped teaspoons plain flour

A good splash of red or white wine, or, better, dry vermouth

A couple of bay leaves

Salt

NO TOMATO!

Brown the meatballs and remove them from the pan. Slice the onion, not too fine, or roughly chop, and add to the pan with a few twists of the salt mill (salt on the onions makes them sweat and cook better). Add the peppercorns whole - don't worry, they will soften and provide just a spicy tingle later on. Slice the garlic as finely as you can (on no account crush it) and add to the hot onion. If you add it too soon it may overcook and go bitter. Once the onions are cooked (but not browned) add the flour and the paprika and cook for a couple of minutes. There should be plenty of fat from the lamb but if it looks a bit dry, add some more - olive oil, duck fat, even a bit of butter will do, or some fat froma aprevious roast. Cook for a couple of minutes, and add the wine or dry vermouth, which you boil to about half. Put the meatballs into a small ovenproof casserole with the bay leaves underneath them. Add the stock/consomme to the onion pan stir well and pour over the meatballs. It should look a bit liquid - there will be some evaporation. Put it into the oven for 7 hours at 110 degrees C. You can lower the time and up the temperature proportionately, but not less tahn 3 hours and more than 160C. Long and slow is better, and if tou cook it, let it get cold and reheat it the next day it will be even better.

A lot of words but it is quick and simple. Before you serve it, you may need to remove some fat - a double layer of kitchen paper towel pressed gently onto the surface should remove it, if not, repeat.

Serve with plain rice, or baked or new potatoes and a simple green veg.