From Vic's Recipes

Adapted from Delia Smith's Winter Cooking

Serves 4

Ingredients for the Sauce

1-1/2 large onion, chopped (You can use the other half of the second onion in the meatballs.)
2 green peppers cut into chunks or slices
1 16-ounce can tomato sauce or 2 cups of homemade tomato sauce
8 to 10 ounces of chicken broth
1 to 2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika (I always use 2)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons (or more if needed) of olive oil

Preparation of the Sauce

Use a pan large enough to hold the meatballs in one layer, such as a 6-3/4-quart Le Creuset Wide French Oven (also called, for some reason, a risotto pan) or a 13-inch All Clad Stainless Steel Braiser.

Cook the chopped onion in olive oil until it turns pale gold. Add the chunks or slices of green pepper, and cook for another minute or two. Then add the sweet Hungarian paprika, and cook for a minute more, just enough to cook the paprika so that it releases its flavor but not so long that it burns. Add the tomato sauce and stir, then add the chicken broth. 

Stirring occasionally, heat the sauce till it comes to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer. Season with salt, but be careful if you have used tomato sauce or broth seasoned with salt.

Ingredients for the Meatballs

12 oz. lean chopped beef and 12 oz. chopped pork or 24 oz. of chopped veal or 24 oz. of chopped chicken, dark (thigh) meat preferred
A little less than 1/2 of the large onion used in the sauce of 1 small onion, very finely minced or grated
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 oz. plain dry breadcrumbs or fresh white breadcrumbs
1 large egg, beaten
All-purpose unbleached flour or Wondra to dredge the meatballs in, optionally seasoned with a little hot Hungarian paprika or finely ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Grapeseed or olive oil for browning the meatballs 

Preparation of the Meatballs

In a large bowl place the meat, onion, parsley, and breadcrumbs. Mix well, then add the egg and a little seasoning of salt and pepper. Using your hands, combine everything together. Shape into meatballs. Delia Smith recommends meatballs small enough that you get 24 of them. You can use a small - about 1-1/2 inch in diameter, which I think holds about 1-1/2 tablespoons - ice cream scoop or cookie dough dropper if you have one that's the right size to portion the meatballs.

The less you handle the meat, and the less you pack it, the more tender the meatballs will be. They don't have to be perfectly round.

Coat each meatball lightly with the seasoned flour. 

Heat the oil, and brown the meatballs lightly. You don't want to form a tough crust. Transfer the meatballs to a plate, and add them one-by-0ne to the sauce. This way they will cook at the same rate.

Finishing the Dish

Add the meatballs to the pan with the sauce. Bring back to a low simmer, and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Simmer on low heat for 35 to 45 minutes, checking every now and then to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. You may have to use a heat diffuser.

The sauce will thicken to a nice consistency because the meatballs were lightly dredged in flour before they were browned.

Turn off the heat and loosely stir 3 tablespoons of sour cream into the sauce to get a marbled effect. This marbling effect is lovely, and the sour cream adds a nice tang to the dish, but be careful since sour cream can curdle. I often plate each dish and then top each serving of the meatball goulash with a little sour cream, allowing each diner to stir it in to get the requisite marbled effect.

You can use heavy cream instead of sour cream, which is what Craig Claiborne recommended in the original New York Times Cookbook. It doesn't really change the taste much, and it does lighten the color of the sauce without the danger of curdling. Crème fraîche has almost the same tangy effect as sour cream without the danger of curdling, and it is delicious.