Chicken Paprikash

Since I've been on a Hungarian food kick, here's a classic cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny playing Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (a very difficult song to play!)...

In the full cartoon episode, there was a cougher in the audience and Bug Bunny pulls out a gun and shoots him!!! Wait, I found the clip:

In today's sanitized PC-world, you aren't going to see THAT in the kiddie cartoons anymore!

This was my second dish that I tried to recreate from our lunch at Hanna's a few days ago...


All I needed to buy was the chicken pieces and a few onions. Bert really wanted me to cook the legs, so that is what I got, instead of a mix of thighs and legs.

I had TC brown the chicken...

Next up were the onions...

Dill wasn't in the recipe but I added it to look pretty!

I got these pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe's, $1.99 for 8 oz. At Fresh & Easy, their noodles were $3.99 for 12 oz. I liked the looks of these better since the noodles were nicer looking and not as "broken" up.

Cook the noodles according to the package directions and top with that sauce!

I cooked the chicken 'til it was 'fall-off-the-bone' soft!

The verdict - Both Bert and TC declare this to be a winner!

Chicken Paprikash
(recipe courtesy of Simply Recipes)

Ingredients
2 - 2 1/2 lbs of chicken pieces, preferably thighs and legs
salt
2-3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 lbs yellow onions (abou 2-3 large onions)
black pepper to taste
2 tbsp sweet paprika, preferably Hungarian (I used the one from Fresh & Easy)
1 tsp (or to taste), hot paprika or cayenne (I used hot Spanish paprika)
1 cup chicken broth (I used my "Better than Bouillon")
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions 
(I simplified it from the original)

1. Salt the chicken pieces well and let them sit at room temperature while you slice the onions.

2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and melt the butter. When the butter is hot, pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels and place them skin-side down in the pan. Brown the chicken pieces, about 4-5 minutes each side.

3. Add the sliced onions  and cook them, stirring occasionally, scraping up the browned bits form the chikcen, until lightly browned, about 7 minutes.

4. Add the paprika and some black pepper to the onions and stir to combine. Add the chicken broth, again scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, and then nestle the chicken pieces into the pan, on top of the onions. Cover and cook on a low simmer for 20-25 minutes (depending on the size of your chicken pieces).  If you want, you can also keep cooking the chicken until it begins to fall of the bone (which is what I did), which may take another 30 minutes or so.

5. When the chicken is done to your taste, remove the chicken from the pan. Allow the pan to cool for a minute and then slowly stir in the sour cream and add salt to taste.  Add the chicken back to the pan and coat with the sauce.

Serve with dumplings, rice, egg noodles or potatoes. We used papappardelle noodles.

Serves 4-6

Enjoy!

The last recipe, Beef Goulash will have to wait until next weekend...

And now, back to our regularly scheduled food posts!