Paprika Chicken

When we have fresh sesame bagels from Aviv in the house, all is right in my little world.  They are such a superior bagel - chewy, sweet and dense.  They must really be eaten fresh on the day they are made, or else toasted the next day.  Beyond that, they get stale.  I like mine with loads of full fat cream cheese and a layer of smoked salmon.

It also makes me happy to have fresh flowers in the house - no matter how clean the house is, it never feels truly finished unless there are a few vases of flowers.  I like 'fluffy' white and pastel flowers such as peonies, lissianthus, ranunculus, sweet peas, oversized chrysanthemums, hydrangeas, gardenias and David Austin roses.  In the bathroom, I keep vases of freesias or stephanotis - they are clean and crisp and have perfume the bathroom with a lovely fresh fragrance.

We had my family over for dinner today - I made Hungarian paprika chicken with nokedli, and a spiced warm apple cake for dessert.

Serious cooking required serious equipment.  Do you think that my current KitchenAid situation is overkill?

I am a huge supporter of mis en plas.  Starting to cook anything even vaguely complex is always best when you begin by preparing all of the ingredients, measured, sliced, ready to go.  It helps keep the kitchen clean while you go too - I prepare everything, clean up, then begin cooking.

Here is my mis en plas for paprika chicken (minus the chicken, which remains in the fridge).  You can see 3 cups of sliced white onions, 2 1/4 cups of strong chicken stock, 2 bay leaves, 3 tablespoons of plain four, 3 cloves finely sliced garlic, 1/2 cup of sweet paprika (best quality you can find), 60g butter.  In the fridge, I had 10 chicken thighs (skinless) and 1.5 cups of creme fraiche (you could also use sour cream).

Here is the mis en plas for the nokedli - 3 eggs, 1 cup of milk (in the fridge), 420g plain flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (dry ingredients mixed together).

To make the paprika chicken, you need to brown the chicken thighs in some olive oil in a large frypan.  Do this in batches of 3 or 4 thighs.  As each batch is nicely browned (a few minutes each side), set them aside in a large bowl.

When all the chicken is browned and set aside, add the butter to the fat in the pan, and melt.  Over medium-high heat, add the sliced onions, and cook, stirring, until the onions are well softened and lightly coloured (around 10 minutes).  At this point, sprinkle the paprika and the flour over the onions, and cook, stirring continuously, for a minute - it will look like this:

Add the bay leaves:

Add the chicken stock and garlic.  Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring continuously.  At this point, I transfer the mixture to a large enamel cast iron pot (26cm Le Creuset).

Add the chicken and its juices to the mixture and cook over low heat (so that the mixture is barely bubbling), stirring occasionally, until the thighs are cooked and the meat is tender and comes apart when poked firmly with a wooden spoon (20 or so minutes, I'd say).

Remove the chicken pieces to a clean bowl, and discard the bay leaves.

Leave the sauce for a few minutes to settle, then use a large flat spoon to skim most of the fat off the surface - the fat will appear as a dark red oil.  Discard the fat.

Boil the sauce over high heat, stirring occasionally to stop it sticking, until very thick - almost like porridge.  Remove from heat, and add the creme fraiche, stirring through until combined.  Return the sauce to high heat, boil until thickened, then add chicken to the pot and heat thoroughly.

To make the nokedi, add the beaten eggs and milk to the dry ingredients, and stir GENTLY (too much stirring will make tough nokedli).  You will have a runny yet elastic dough - a little thicker than thick pancake batter.  It should fall from a wooden spoon, but not be runny.  You can add extra milk, a tablespoon at a time, if you need more liquid.  Leave to rest for 15 minutes.

You then need to drop tiny pieces of the nokedli into a large pot of boiling water.  I use a special nokedli maker (also called a spaetzle press), however you can use a large-holed colander and push the mixture through with a wooden spoon.

The little nokedli are cooked when they float to the surface (a few minutes).  You are best to do this in a few batches - scoop out the cooked pieces with a large slotted spoon, and sit them all in a colander until they are all cooked.  Then, toss them through with a little butter and salt.

Tabitha loved the paprika chicken - I had worried that the flavour might be a little strong for her, but she adored it, grasping a piece in each fist and cramming lots into her mouth, making 'mmmmm' noises.  She also ate some green beans (which I served with the dinner).  My little sister (9) also loved the paprika chicken, so I would say that the dish is very child-friendly.

In fact, the first times I enjoyed paprika chicken and nokedli were when I was very small - toddler and primary school aged - at the house of family friends of ours, who were Hungarian.

Look at her, all shiny - she is covered in sauce from the chicken!

After dinner, I made a nice warm apple cake with a cinnamon and demerara sugar topping, which we ate with ice cream.  It's handy having two mixers for big cooking days like today - however the green one belongs to my friend, and sadly has to go back to its home soon!

This was several hours ago, and I am still so full that I feel queasy thinking about eating breakfast tomorrow.