Chicken Paprika

Chicken paprika is a recipe given to me by my friend Bridget.  It is one of our favorite fall and winter recipes because it is so filling and warming.  She makes it with bone-in chicken drumsticks, if I remember correctly.  What a frugal choice! Sometimes I can get deals on the drumsticks, so I do use those.  This day, I made it with boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs that I pounded flat. This is a double batch that I made.  I don't even have her recipe anymore since it is one of the few recipes in my mental rolodex.  A high compliment to Bridget on how good it truly is.  Hopefully she will chime in and make any necessary corrections.

Chicken Paprika

• About 2 lbs of bone-in drumsticks (around 6? legs) or 1 lb. boneless chicken meat
• Lots of paprika and salt
• 3 T. butter
• 1-2 c. vegetables, chopped finely.  Bridget uses onions and celery, which are a must for me.  I added finely shredded carrots and leftover red pepper.  It really doesn't matter, whatever sounds good.  Some very finely chopped greenery (kale, chard, spinach) would be yummy too.
• 2-3 c. chicken stock and 2-3 rounded T. of flour.  The ratio is 1 c. liquid to 1T. thickener.  The veggies release some juice too so that's why you need a bit extra with the rounded tablespoons.  If you like a lot of sauce, do the 3 c. liquid and 3 T. flour.
• 1/4 c. fresh chopped parsley.  I  like italian parsley.  It has a good, fresh taste that really makes this dish shine.
• Sour cream or greek yogurt to taste, maybe about a good cup or more.

Directions

1. Prep the chicken.  I like to pound my boneless chicken flat so that it cooks evenly.  If using legs, I like to peel off the skin because it seems to get slimy for me in this dish.  See how I lined up the chicken on the cutting boards in the picture below to make it easy to season and clean up.  Generously season both sides of the chicken with a healthy amount of paprika and sea salt.   I like sweet hungarian paprika for this but any paprika will do.  This time was a mix of hot hungarian, sweet hungarian, and smoked paprika.  If using hot or smoked, don't apply this heavily.  You know your family's tastes better than I do.

2.  Brown the chicken in the butter. Don't worry about cooking it through.  You will cook it through later.  Remove the chicken from the pan to a plate but save the drippings.

3.  Saute veggies in the pan drippings.  Add a bit more butter if it gets dry.  Then sprinkle the flour over the veggies and cook the flour until light golden brown.  This is gravy making 101.  I think Bridget stirs the flour in last with the sour cream but I find this approach is better for reheating.  Add the chicken stock and cook until thick.  In the picture below,  you can see the browned chicken on the left and the veggie gravy on the right.

4.  Add the chicken back into the pan, cover the pan, and cook it through on a low simmer.  Boneless chicken should take about 10-15 minutes, depending on how flat the chicken breasts were pounded.  Bone-in chicken should take about 30-45 minutes.  Really, it can be a little overcooked without getting too chewy since the moisture and low heat will protect the chicken.

5a.  To serve it that night, stir in the parsley and sour cream/greek yogurt with the last couple minutes of cooking.
-- OR--
5b.  To refrigerate or freeze it for a different day, save it without adding the sour cream.  It will curdle upon reheating.  This is what you see in the picture above.  My chicken was cooked through on accident since it was pretty thin and then I added the parsley and sauce.  John reheated it later that week for dinner and stirred in the greek yogurt at the end in each person's bowl.  Adding it individually works great for us since Iris can't eat dairy.  She seems to do o.k. with the dab of butter but other dairy is a huge problem for her.

We eat this on top of soaked brown rice cooked in chicken stock.  The rice soaks up all the nice gravy. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I think she serves it with dumplings?  It is also good with egg noodles.  I eat it plain when I am doing the grain-free thing.

Soaked brown rice
1 c.  brown rice
2 c. water
1 T. vinegar or other acidic product (kombucha, lemon juice, whey, whatever)

Combine in a bowl and soak at room temperature. I like this rice the longer it soaks.  It tastes really good at a  2-4 day soak but even a couple hours should help improve digestibility.  So I often set this up the night before or the weekend before.  And interesting note, I can eat rice if I soak it for a long time. Otherwise, I get very sick to my stomach.  Rice seems to be the worst grain for me. I don't tolerate it well at all.

Pour off liquid and cook like regular rice. I use chicken stock to cook it in and reduce the amount a bit since there will still be a bit of water on the rice after draining and the rice has soaked some water up.  So about 1.5 c. liquid for the cup of soaked rice.   It should cook in about half the time that unsoaked rice takes.  So for long grain brown, this half-time is about 25 minutes.

A tip: When I have the freezer space, I cook double or triple this rice, spread it on a cookie sheet, freeze it, and batch it into portions for dinner.  Then all I have to do is thaw and reheat.   Try a single batch the first time to make sure your family likes it.