Chicken Paprikash

I'm not shy to say that I love presents.  Gift giving and getting are two of my favorite things.  Christmas is the very best day of the year.  I love birthdays and showers of all shapes and sizes.  One of my favorite types of gifts are food gifts.  A banana bread for a new neighbor, a bottle of wine for a hostess gift, a couple nice bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a house warming gift... those are perfection to me.  

So, imagine my happiness when my fantastic sister went to Turkey and returned with this authentic sweet and hot paprika.  She really loves me.

Now imagine the joy I felt a few months later when I received the October issue of Saveur magazine and smack dab on the cover is a beautiful photo of Chicken Paprikash.  I call that fate.

I feel like I've had chicken paprikash before but I can't pinpoint when so I also can't tell you exactly what it's supposed to taste like.  I can tell you how to make this version and what it tastes like.

This version starts with chicken, which I imagine all versions do.  A whole chicken to be exact.  Then you cut up the whole chicken into chicken pieces.  (You should read that to say that CA cuts up the whole chicken into chicken pieces because I don't know how to do that.  Technically, CA doesn't know how to cut up a whole chicken either but he looked it up on the Internet and did a pretty decent job.  I think he secretly wants to be a butcher.  I love that CA will tackle the tough jobs that I don't want to do.)  The chicken gets browned in my favorite Le Creuset dutch oven.

After the chicken is browned, in go minced onions which get cooked until soft.  Then you add the paprika.  The original recipe calls for all sweet paprika, but I used a combination of hot and sweet paprika which I highly recommend.  The chicken goes back in the pot along with chicken stock, tomatoes and peppers.  All that gets cooked together for about 30 minutes.

After that, it's done and you have paprikash.  It's surprisingly simple.  The key here is to have really good paprika because it's really the only flavoring in the recipe.

The paprikash is served with sour cream on the top which is a really good addition.  It smooths out the flavors and brings it all together.

All in all this recipe is great but I have one big problem with it.  There's not enough paprika in it.  As I was eating it, I kept adding extra paprika to my bowl until it was just right.  The recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of paprika which sounds like a lot but I would recommend using twice that amount.  I'm very serious about this so I've changed the recipe below to reflect the larger amount.  Paprika all the way!

Chicken Paprikash
Adapted from Saveur
services 4-6

Ingredients 
1/4 cup Canola Oil
1 (3–4-lb) Chicken, cut into 8 pieces 
Salt and Pepper to taste 
1 large Yellow Onion, minced 
3 T Hungarian Sweet Paprika, plus more for garnish 
3 T Hungarian Hot Paprika
2 cups Chicken Stock 
2 Plum Tomatoes, seeded and cut into 1" pieces 
1 Red, Yellow or Orange Pepper, cut into 1" pieces 
1/2 cup Sour Cream, for serving

Instructions
Heat oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, cook the chicken, flipping once, until browned, 8–10 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate; set aside. Add onion to pan; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 8 minutes. Add paprika; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Return chicken and its juices to the pan. Add stock, tomatoes, and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until chicken is fully cooked, about 30 minutes. Transfer chicken and sauce to a serving platter; spoon sour cream over top and garnish with more paprika.

 

Enjoy!
Julie