Chicken Paprikash

I probably told you in my goulash blog post (I did write up the goulash, didn’t I?) - anyway, I’m always mentioning that I’m Sicilian.  I don’t often mention that I’m also Hungarian (or a I like to call it, Magyar, which is just another term for an ethnic Hungarian).  Only recently have I been experimenting with Hungarian cooking and wine (the wines I love - a nice sparkling white from Torley, and some Furmint - both dry and sweet - and Kekfrankos - which is Hungary’s Blaufrankisch grape).

And wait until I make the poppyseed strudel again - there’s a fun Magyar dish!  (A little difficult, too.)  It was my grandpa’s favorite.

So last night I finally attempted chicken paprikash.  And I’m happy to report that it’s delicious and quite easy to make, and relatively inexpensive, compared to most things I make.  (We’re also fortunate to have a dear Hungarian friend who sent me a package of authentic Hungarian paprika a little while back, so that certainly helps!)

There are very few ingredients - chicken thighs, sea salt, black pepper, sour cream, cayenne pepper, paprika, chicken stock, unsalted butter, onions, and mushrooms.  If you have a spaetzle machine, by all means, make the spaetzle (or as Hungarians call it, nokedli) - I don’t have such a machine yet, or else I’d make nokedli from scratch.  So for now, I used egg noodles.  And as for wine, I chose the 2006 La Pommeraie de Brown, the 2nd label of Chateau Brown in the Pessac-Leognan part of Bordeaux (just over half Cabernet Sauvignon and the rest Merlot), and Peter chose the 2006 Val Sotillo Crianza Ribera del Duero.  Both were very good matches for the dish - for weight I’d go for the Bordeaux, and for flavor match I’d go for the Ribera del Duero, but either way it was delightful.

The whole thing was pretty easy - I asked the local butcher to leave the skin on the chicken thighs.  I patted them dry and seasoned with plenty of sea salt and black pepper, and the melted some unsalted butter in the Le Creuset pot (recipes generally called for a saute pan but I don’t have a real saute pan that’s big enough - the cast iron enamel pot was perfect anyway) - anyway, once the butter was melted (and smelling gloriously), I browned the chicken in the butter, and then I browned some thinly sliced crimini mushrooms, and once I removed them, I cooked the sliced onions in the browning butter, as they began to caramelize, I added plenty of sea salt, a touch of cayenne pepper, and lots of Hungarian paprika (I can still smell the sweet smoky aromas today).  Once the onions were cooked down a bit, I put the mushrooms back in, and poured in some chicken stock.  After all ingredients were incorporated, I put the chicken back in, and cooked it (recipes generally called for 20-25 minutes, but I think I left it simmering for close to 50 minutes), until the sauce had thickened and the chicken thighs were cooked thoroughly.  I removed the chicken pieces briefly, and then stirred in a bit more salt and sour cream, put the chicken back in, and when it was ready to be served, the macaroni gets cooked and the paprikash gets heated again, and placed atop the macaroni.  It’s that easy.  And delicious!

Paella

Paella - the finished product

So I stepped out of my culinary comfort zone again last week - to make a Spanish paella.  It wasn’t quite as easy as I thought, especially since recipes found online rarely are accurate, if ever.  It’s why I prefer cooking by instinct (Italian cooking) or by reading recipes in books written by celebrated food experts like Julia Child and Jacques Pepin that were written long before any idiot could contribute to online recipes.  And most regrettably, a great many of the inaccurate recipes are posted by “celebrity chefs” that people have come to rely on over the past decade or so.  It isn’t fair to those who really don’t have a natural feel for what’s going on in their kitchens, because they put their faith in these so called experts and their recipes and instructions, and end up with disasters - which translate to inedible dishes, lost time and energy, expensive ingredients ruined, and damaged confidence in the kitchen.  It’s precisely why, when I post a request to my facebook wall asking for a recipe, I specifically ask for recipes you use at home, that are tried and true - NOT internet recipes.

Chicken with dry rub

I’ve had paella lots of times, and I love it.  It’s great any time of the year, but I especially love it in the summer, my favorite time for eating shellfish.  Rice, I’ll be perfectly honest, isn’t my thing, and I only eat it when I make risotto.  But this time I’d eat it, since it was a huge part of the paella.  And believe it or not, the rice ended up being the tricky part, both flavor and texture - thanks to what I can say with a reasonable degree of certainty, is a faulty online recipe from a celebrated chef.  Lucky thing I know textures well enough to fix it, at least as well as I possibly could.  The rice was short grain Spanish rice and I cooked it with dry Spanish white wine and chicken stock.  Basically, you’ve got to add liquid ingredients to rice gradually when making that style of rice, at least I think so, otherwise you don’t really know exactly how much you’ll need to get the proper texture.  And that recipe didn’t call for nearly enough salt - when I began tasting it, I decided it had almost no flavor at all.  You be the judge when you’re cooking - you decide how much you need to season something with salt (or black pepper, within reason) - that’s why I love when a recipe tells us to season something “to taste” - only you know your own taste and the tastes of those for whom you’ve prepared the dish - so trust yourself!

Rice cooking with vegetables

Anyway, good chorizo sausage went into it, as did some crazy good chicken (I only buy chicken from the local butcher now, as supermarket chicken has gotten increasingly disgusting and I see no excuse for poor quality chicken in my dishes) - I seasoned it with a dry rub of sea salt, black pepper, oregano, and paprika.  After letting the flavors work together for a while, I sauteed it.  Outrageously good.  The seafood was sauteed shrimp (again, the recipe didn’t call for seasoning of the shrimp, which to me is flat out nonsense), mussels, and clams (all from the local fish monger - please don’t buy the fish at supermarkets - you’ll thank me once you’ve become accustomed to buying at a small shop that has better control over where the fish comes from and how they’re stored, etc.)  Other ingredients included fresh lemon, garlic, onion, peas, parsley, and tomato - and of course, saffron, my favorite Spanish flavor.  Im pretty sure that’s all there was to it.  I also decided I need a paella pan to make this dish next time (and many more times), as I think it’ll be easier than making it in 2 large-but-not-large-enough pans.

White Rioja - oxidized Viura

My advice?  Find someone who has some experience with this dish and ask that person for his/her recipe.  Don’t follow some internet recipe if Spanish cooking isn’t within your comfort zone.

Now, for the wine.  I chose a Spanish wine of course.  When you think of Spanish whites, if you think of them at all, you probably think of Albarino.  And I do enjoy a fresh young Albarino with shellfish.  But this time I wanted something with a little (read: a lot) more depth.  So I chose the R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Gravonia - it’s a controlled oxidized white made from 100% Viura grapes, from Rioja.  And it’s one of my favorite Spanish wines.  This one was vintage 2002.  Funky, salty, stony, and mature, it’s a perfect pairing for many chicken or fish dishes (this dish being both) - plus some fun Spanish cheeses - Mahon and Drunken Goat.  Perfect.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I don’t think I’ve written this one up yet, so here it is - a fun alternative to typical Italian sauces, I love making roasted red pepper sauce.  (And I can assure you, after you read the ingredients, you’ll see that it’s no less Italian than a standard marinara Sunday sauce - in fact, today is Sunday, and I’m making roasted red pepper sauce for our family dinner.)

And perhaps you’ve noticed I’m writing more often lately - instead of finding time, I’m making time.  I love writing and I love food and wine (no kidding, right?) and writing on my wine blog takes longer generally as I add a lot of philosophy to it and tasting notes, thoughts on terroir, comparison of vintages, etc. - so it takes more effort, whereas most of my recipes and food thoughts are always fresh in my mind and blogging is fun and easy!  And I like sharing my recipes with you - perhaps you’ll comment if you have any experiences with similar dishes and leave your notes, suggestions, or - if you ever try any of my recipes, will you let me know please?  I’d appreciate it so much!

Anyway, the roasted red pepper sauce is fun, and it’s versatile for most red wines, including those from Tuscany (Sangiovese), Sicily (Nero d’Avola or Nerello Mascalese), Piemonte (usually Dolcetto or Barbera), or some of the fun, earthy, fruity reds from southern France (e.g., Languedoc or Cotes du Rhone), or even some New World examples like reds from California or Chile (Cabernet/Merlot).  I like serving it with a fun shaped macaroni, usually farfalle or campanelle, but anything will do, especially penne.  Just boil the macaroni while the sauce is cooking.

For the sauce - in a medium sized pot, heat some olive oil (as nearly all of my recipes begin - heat some olive oil, it seems to be the answer to everything) - and saute a chopped onion.  Once the onion is softened, add a clove of finely chopped garlic and continue to saute.  Add a medium sized jar of red roasted peppers (believe it or not, I actually don’t know how many ounces those jars are, as I’ve never checked, but it’s not the small one that’s the size of your fist - it’s the next size up), anyway, add that and cook about 5 minutes, on low to medium heat, stirring and making sure it doesn’t burn the onions and garlic.  Add about 1 can (again, I don’t know the exact size of the can but it’s the small can) of chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Season with plenty of kosher salt and a touch of black pepper.  Finally, add a large handful of fresh basil leaves, and cook another 5 minutes or so.

Now, here’s the part where you have an option.  Do you have an immersion blender?  It’s the wand sort of thing with a fan type blade at the end, either battery or electric - you can put it in your sauces etc. and blend them that way.  So that’s what I do at this point.  If not, just transfer the sauce (be careful, it’s hot!) into a regular blender and puree it.  (And then go out and buy an immersion blender - I guarantee it will make your culinary life much easier!)

Now that the sauce is pureed, leave it/put it back in the pot and stir in some cream.  I use fat free half and half usually, but you can use regular half and half or heavy cream - just a small amount, enough to make it a little creamy and smooth, and you’ll know you added enough when the sauce turns a slightly salmon-pink color (it’s a reddish orange before the cream) after you’re stirred in the cream, so add it conservatively until you’ve got that color.  Now, heat it up again as the cream should be chilled before adding it to the sauce.  Once it’s back to a near boiling point, turn off the heat, and your macaroni should be done by now (cooked, drained, etc.) - so in a large serving bowl, combine the macaroni and enough sauce to reach all macaroni.

I like plating it on separate dishes, topping it with a little more sauce, and then a basil leaf or two and some grated cheese (for me, it’s parmigiano reggiano, but if you prefer pecorino romano or asiago, it’s your call), and that’s it.  I usually serve with a clean salad.  (Tonight’s salad is organic baby spring greens, a hint of finely chopped shallot, crumbled feta cheese, and chopped walnuts, with a balsamic vinaigrette.)  Remember, you can also add pieces of chicken breast to it if you want some lean protein.

If it sounds easy, that’s because it is.  The whole process takes me probably around 20 minutes from getting onions from my vegetable drawer to grating the cheese over the plated macaroni.  Now, go find your corkscrew, open a fun red wine, pour yourself a glass, turn on some Claudio Villa, and try this easy, healthy, delicious recipe!