While versions of goulash can be found in Slovenia and Croatia, they generally originate from inland regions and are prepared with ingredients that have little in common with their ancestor from the Habsburg Empire. Made with various meats, vegetables, and herbs, with or without tomato or paprika, they are more reminiscent of a stew than of Hungary’s national dish. Over the course of my travels and readings, I’ve come across a goulash of fresh and smoked pork with white beans in Slovenian Styria; a venison goulash with cherries, fava beans, and bacon polenta in northern Croatia (a recipe by chef Branimir Tomašić); and a cuttlefish goulash with truffles in an onion-and-herb sauce in Istria (a dish that truly has nothing of goulash about it except the name on the menu). As one gets closer to the sea, a few varieties of goulash made with fish, octopus, or other mollusks begin to appear. Yet cross the Italian border from Istria into Friuli-Venezia Giulia and you’ll find variations such as Trieste goulash (Trieste being a city where a quarter of the population still spoke Slovenian at the beginning of the twentieth century), prepared with beef, tomato, and paprika as in Magyar lands, but with the addition of Italian herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or oregano.

I therefore decided to create my own hybrid, even if it shocks the Istrians. Like Trieste goulash, my recipe begins with classic goulash ingredients: a sauce base made from beef, tomato paste, and paprika. By using monkfish, I anchor it on the Adriatic coast. With the addition of peppers, tomatoes, and cream, it veers toward a Hungarian paprikás or a monkfish à l’américaine. Finally, I nod to Istria with a regional pasta, parenci.

Any goulash worthy of the name must be accompanied by a starch to soak up the sauce. Parenci, also known as štrunci, are a type of rustic pasta made with sheep’s milk cheese and shaped with a spoon. Once cooked, they are drizzled with olive oil and served with grated cheese. There are very few parenci recipes in the literature, and I was a bit worried that the result would be ugly, misshapen lumps of dough. But in reality they taste excellent, are fairly airy (more so than gnocchi, which they vaguely resemble), and pair wonderfully with fish in sauce.

Istrian Monkfish Goulash

Yields 4 servings
Total preparation: 11 hours 45 minutes
Active preparation: 1 hour 30 minutes

Goulash base

250 g oxtail or beef short ribs
salt
10 g canola oil
50 g peeled carrot, large dice
100 g peeled onion, large dice
100 g cored and seeded red pepper, large dice
4 g peeled garlic cloves, smashed
15 g tomato paste
125 g red wine
2 cloves
2 peppercorns
2 g parsley
0.1 g bay leaf
450 g water

• Season the oxtail or short ribs with salt. Heat the oil in a pressure cooker over high heat, and sauté the meat until brown on all sides. Add the carrot, onion, red pepper, garlic, and tomato paste, and cook for a couple minutes, stirring regularly. Add the red wine, cloves, peppercorns, parsley, and bay leaf, then simmer for another couple minutes, until the wine has reduced by about half.
• Add the water, then cover, bring to pressure, and cook under pressure for 1 hour. Let cool for 30 minutes.
• Take out the meat and reserve for another recipe (if you pick the meat off the bones, you can use it to make an excellent pasta sauce). Pass the stock through a chinois, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible from the vegetables. Discard the solids. Transfer the stock to plastic containers and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
• Before using, remove and discard the fat congealed on top of the stock. You should have a bit over 500 g of goulash base, which can be kept in the refrigerator for a day.

Pickled mini-peppers

20 g sweet mini-peppers, of various colors
40 g orange wine vinegar
4 g sugar

• Cut the mini peppers into a dozen 2 mm thick slices. Discard the cores and seeds.
• In a small bowl or jar, combine the vinegar and sugar. Add the mini-pepper slices, then cover and let marinate for at least 1 hour. 
• The pickled peppers can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple days.

Parenci

1 g active dry yeast
17 g milk, lukewarm
85 g flour
50 g (about 1) egg, beaten
5 g butter, soft
85 g sheep’s milk feta, crumbled
1 g ground white pepper 
0.7 g salt, plus some for the cooking water

• Mix the yeast and milk in a small bowl, and let rest for 5 minutes.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, eggs, yeast mixture, butter, and crumbled feta. Mix on low speed until homogenous, then add the salt and white pepper, and continue mixing for 2 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours, until the dough has doubled in volume. 
• Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Use two teaspoons to shape a small amount of dough (12-13 g) vaguely like a quenelle, and drop it into the hot water. Repeat until you have about half of the dough left, and cook for 5 minutes.
• Take the dumplings out of the water and drain on paper towels. After a few minutes, transfer to a tray lined with parchment paper. 
• Repeat the previous two steps with the rest of the dough. You should have at least 16 dumplings. Cover the tray with plastic wrap, and reserve. The parenci can be kept in the refrigerator for a day.

Monkfish goulash

150 g cored, seeded red pepper, large dice
500 g goulash base
300 g peeled and seeded tomatoes, small dice
800 g cleaned monkfish
12 g flour
salt
35 g light olive oil
125 g peeled onions, small dice
6.5 g sweet paprika
60 g cognac
75 g green beans, trimmed
100 g heavy cream
4 g honey

• Purée the red pepper in a blender and pass through a chinois. Pour the purée into a saucepan together with the goulash base, and reduce over medium-high heat to about 200 g. Add the diced tomatoes, and cook for another 10 minutes. Reserve.
• Cut the monkfish into a dozen cubes, and dredge in flour to cover all sides. Season with salt.
• Heat ¾ of the oil in a sautoir over medium-high heat, add the monkfish, and cook until golden brown on all sides, stirring regularly.
• Add the remaining oil, onions, and paprika, then cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove the pan from the heat, add the cognac, then light with a match. When the flames die down, return the pan to the heat, and scrape the bottom with a spatula.
• Pour the reserved sauce into the pan, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. 
• Meanwhile, blanch the green beans in salted boiling water. Drain, cut in half, and reserve.
• Stir the cream and honey into the monkfish sauce. Add the green beans, and cook for another 5 minutes. 
• Rectify the seasoning, keep warm, and proceed to assembly immediately.

Assembly

pickled mini-peppers
25 g butter
16 pieces parenci
20 g parmesan, finely grated
0.4 g lemon zest
monkfish goulash

• Take the mini-peppers out of the pickling liquid, and drain on paper towels. You can keep the slices whole, or cut them into a brunoise.
• Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Toss the parenci in the pan until they start to color, then mix in the parmesan and lemon zest. Remove from the heat.
• Divide the monkfish and vegetables between four bowls. Arrange four parenci between the fish chunks in each bowl, and top with a generous amount of sauce. Garnish with the mini-pepper slices or brunoise. Serve immediately.