chicken paprikash

[cellio]

One of Dani's comfort foods is Hungarian Chicken Paprikash, which was new to me when we met. (My European roots don't get any farther east than Italy.) I've tried making it a few times (through the power of Google :-) ) with so-so results. Tonight's version, an adaptation of several other recipes (among things to make it kosher), worked well.

4 chicken thighs (on bone, with skin)
oil
3 medium onions, chopped small
0.5 red bell pepper, chopped small
a few cloves of garlic, minced
about 3T Hungarian (not Spanish) paprika (could have used more)
1C chicken stock
2 small tomatoes, diced (these were plum 'cause that's what I had)
2-3T flour
egg noodles, cooked

Heat oil, then brown chicken over high heat and remove from pan. Lower heat to medium and cook onions, pepper, and garlic until soft. Add paprika and cook for a minute, then add chicken back to the pan, turning to coat with the vegetable mixture. Add tomatoes and stock, bring to boil, then simmer covered until done, which will take about 15 more minutes. (Turn chicken over half-way through.) Don't rely on cooking times in recipes (a past mistake of mine); use a meat thermometer. When done remove chicken from the pan to a bed of egg noodles, raise the temperature to high, and stir in flour to thicken and reduce the sauce. Pour that over the chicken.

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

A general recipe thought... (BTW, looks good).

Hungarian Paprika comes in 4 varieties: smoked/not sweet/hot. (All are smoked, but some are far more so.)

It makes a difference to the recipe which you use.

I strongly suspect you used unsmoked sweet.

[cellio]

Thanks for the tip. This was just labeled "Hungarian paprika"; it does not seem hot. (I had previously encountered the "not Spanish" warning but I don't know how to identify Spanish. The stuff from the grocery store just says "paprika".) Where might I find the other varieties?

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Any reasonably good spice store.

Spain is the largest manufacturer of paprika in the world - I'm not at all sure that there is a substantial difference in quality or flavor between Hungarian or Spanish. Having said that, my Hungarian mother used only the Szeged brand, and would be disappointed in me to hear me say that. (Spanish paprika is sometimes marketed as Pimenton.)

Quality spices will be good, regardless of country of origin - and the distinguishing factors will be muddied by the presence of other flavorful ingredients.

We have two very high quality spice stores not far from me, so while I keep a jar of "red dust" from the Stop and Shop in the house for when it does not matter, I also have some quality smoked paprika in the house, and sometimes I use sweet as well. With a Penzeys 2 miles away, I am quite spoilt. But you can purchase quality spices at very reasonable prices online. Your area has excellent purveyors, I am sure: I just don't know who they are.

One of the surprises of my LIFE was when Alton Jones mentioned in passing on one of his Good Eats shows, that a fresh peach sprinkled with a tiny pinch of smoked paprika is amazing. He's right: and in fact, there are many savory spices that make a grilled or fresh peach taste different and delightful. But he was also correct: smoked paprika is its own category.

One last thought: fresh paprika loses its flavor and zest when stored for a long time on a warm shelf. If using freshly bought, use MUCH MUCH less, taste and adjust. It's really got a wallop of flavor, which is why I make fun of the "red dust" on the shelf. You can tell it's a strong pepper when it is fresh.

My Mom always bought the Szeged (large red tin) and kept it in the refrigerator. That was authentic Chicken Paprikas...

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

there is a Penzey's in the strip, and I highly recommend them.
-saskia

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Their goods are top notch - and it is very neat to visit, and sniff all the jars.

Locally to me (Boston), I find that I can pay a lot less for top notch stuff (and a wider selection) at a small spice store called Christina's (in Somerville).

Perhaps there is a small local merchant near to you that will be YOUR equivalent of Christina's.

Although: I bet yours won't serve top notch ice cream in the store front next door. :-)

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

it's true, the top notch ice cream is in a different neighborhood than all the places I know of to get ice cream.

Somerville? nice spot.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

The Inman Square area of Somerville has become a very nice restaurant hot spot.

So has the Davis Square area.

Much of the rest of Somerville is unchanged from it's deep working-class past.

Alas: I rarely go there as much, for in their zeal to balance their budget they've hiked parking meter rates, hiked ticket prices, extended meter hours and hired an entire goon squad of parking enforcement. While it was once almost impossible to park in those areas in the evening, now there are plenty of spots at all hours.

The local merchants are SCREAMING. But not to any avail, really.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Btw, if you want to stop at Christina's and are willing to walk a couple of blocks, park on the Cambridge side of Inman. If you can't find a meter, ping me for a visitor pass...

[cellio]

Oh that's a good point. When they left Squirrel Hill they fell off my radar; I must remember that they didn't actually close, just moved to a less-accessible place. And hey, they now have Sunday hours, making it possible to actually go there! Thanks.

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

also, the location in the strip is much larger, as well. Totally unsubstantiated rumour had it that in Squirrel Hill, they were the lowest grossing store in the chain and moving them to the strip bumped them up to one of the top grossing stores.

[cellio]

When they were in Squirrel Hill, in the middle of the Jewish neighborhood (not that it's all-Jewish by any means, but there's a concentration), they were not open on Sunday, nor most evenings. That was disappointing.

[foxxydancr.livejournal.com]

I feel like they just didn't do enough research on the neighborhood before they opened the store there. after a year in the city, it became evident that the strip was the place to be.

[cellio]

Thanks for all the information. Peaches with paprika do sound good; must try that. (A coworker introduced me to peaches with nutmeg; before that it hadn't occurred to me to season raw peaches at all.)

One last thought: fresh paprika loses its flavor and zest when stored for a long time on a warm shelf. If using freshly bought, use MUCH MUCH less, taste and adjust.

This is true to some extent with all spices; I take it it's more pronounced with paprika? (I don't store my spices in the fridge -- too unwieldy -- but I do store them in a cool part of the kitchen.)

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

On the peaches, it was smoked paprika. I tried both. :-)

I don't know that paprika is any more or less prone to loss of flavor over time. Maybe a little.

But the tins my mother bought were so large, that they took forever to empty. Perhaps she refrigerated it because it mattered to her as a Hungarian. I don't know for sure.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Also: your recipe sounds much like Mom's - because while we did not keep kosher, she didn't stray far from her kosher upbringing.

She would often dredge her chicken in flour before cooking, which aided the browning and self-thickened the sauce. It also lets you add some spice to the flour, and therefore directly to the chicken.

In winter, tomato paste would be used. About half a small can.

[cellio]

Thickening with flour was my substitute for the sour cream that commonly shows up. I hadn't considered coating the chicken first instead; it seems like that would work well.