Chicken Paprikash with Buttered Egg Noodles

I have another saucy chicken dish to share. 🙂 My husband has very fond memories of eating Chicken Paprikash during his childhood, so I jumped at trying this version. The cream perfectly balances the spice in the sauce. It’s a great comfort food dish.

This recipe was adapted from Bon Appétit, contributed by Claire Saffitz. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, increased the garlic, and used crème fraîche instead of sour cream in the sauce. I also incorporated some smoked paprika. We ate it with roasted asparagus on the side.

• ½ cup sour cream, crème fraîche, or Greek yogurt, at room temperature
• 10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds)
• Kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 large yellow or sweet onion, peeled and chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 16-ounces (2 cups) canned crushed tomatoes (from a 28 oz can)
• 12 ounces egg noodles
• ½ cup parsley leaves with tender stems, finely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 300°, preferably on convection. (I roasted the asparagus first and then reduced the temperature.)
2. Take creme fraiche (or sour cream or yogurt) out of fridge—it needs to come to room temperature.
3. Place chicken thighs on a plate and pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. Peel and chop the onion. Smash the garlic cloves with the flat side of your knife and peel.
5. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high. Add 1 T butter and 1 T olive oil, swirl to melt.
6. Using tongs, add chicken “skin side” down and cook, lifting up thighs once or twice to let rendered hot fat run underneath, until golden brown and crisp, 6-7 minutes. Transfer chicken skin side up to a plate.
7. Reduce heat to low. Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often to dissolve browned bits on bottom of skillet, until onions are translucent, 6–8 minutes.
8. Add paprika and cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, just until onions are evenly coated and spices are fragrant, about 30 seconds (the spices burn very easily, turning them bitter and chalky, so make sure to keep them moving in skillet and have can of tomatoes close at hand).
9. Add tomatoes to skillet. Add 3/4 cup water and add to skillet. Stir until incorporated, season with several pinches of salt, and bring to a simmer.
10. Using tongs, arrange thighs skin side up back in skillet (along with any accumulated juices), nestling into liquid but not submerging (you want the “skin side” to be exposed so it stays crispy).
11. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until chicken is fully cooked and tender enough to release from the bone when prodded with a fork, 15-20 minutes, or until center of thickest part of the meat reaches 165 degrees.
12. About halfway through chicken cook time in the oven, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles and cook according to package instructions, stirring occasionally with tongs. Drain noodles in a colander.
13. Transfer noodles to a large bowl, add remaining 2 T butter, and toss to coat until butter is melted and noodles are coated. Season with salt and pepper.
14. Add half of the finely chopped parsley to noodles; toss to coat.
15. Carefully remove skillet from oven (handle will be hot!). Using tongs, transfer chicken skin side up to a clean plate.
16. Taste sauce and season with more salt and pepper, if needed.
17. Spoon about ¼ cup sauce into a small bowl and stir in creme fraiche (sour cream or yogurt) until smooth (this slowly brings up the temperature of the sour cream so it doesn’t split when it hits the hot skillet). Pour back into skillet and stir to combine.
18. Arrange chicken thighs and juices back in skillet and top with remaining chopped parsley. Serve over noodles. (I arranged the chicken and sauce over the noodles in a serving bowl and garnished with parsley.)

Chicken Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings

This dish was HOT. Super spicy. I was so excited to get my hands on both sweet and hot Hungarian paprika- and then even more excited to find a dish (Food & Wine Magazine’s “Best One-Pot Dish” no less) that incorporated hot paprika. Well, I don’t know if my paprika was just too fresh…

I am a fan of spicy food, but my family had to slather this spicy gravy with sour cream in order to eat it. A lot of water was consumed as well. I thought that the sour cream in both the sauce and the biscuits would temper the heat- or by eating each bite along with part of a fabulously moist and tender biscuit would be enough…

BUT- after saying all of that- this dish was so wonderful it definitely deserves to be made again. Smell- AMAZING. Biscuits- AMAZING. I would modify the recipe by using 1 tablespoon of hot Hungarian paprika along with 1 tablespoon of sweet paprika next time. This recipe was adapted from a Food and Wine “staff-favorite” recipe, contributed by Grace Parisi.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6

• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces (I used 10 thighs)
• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 5 T cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
• 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup sour cream (I used light)
• 1 large yellow or white onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T hot Hungarian paprika (I would substitute 1 T sweet for half of the hot next time)
• 3/4 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp dry thyme or 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour.
2. In a deep ovenproof skillet (I used enameled cast iron), melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned on both sides, 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate.
3. Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Pulse in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Whisk 1/2 cup of the stock with 1/2 cup of the sour cream and drizzle over the dry ingredients; pulse until a dough forms.
5. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 minutes.
6. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir in the paprika and caraway and cook for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken stock and 1/2 cup of sour cream and stir until smooth. Add the thyme and bring to a boil.
7. Scoop twelve 3-tablespoon-size mounds of biscuit dough over the chicken. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the biscuits are cooked. If biscuits are not golden, turn on the broiler and broil for about 2 minutes, until the biscuits are golden. (I omitted this step.)
8. Serve the goulash in bowls, spooning the biscuits on top.

One Year Ago:

• Mexican-Style Chicken over Penne

Two Years Ago:

• White Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits

Hungarian Lentil Stew

This creamy lentil stew is wonderful, “healthy-ish,” cold weather comfort food. It is very easy to prepare as a bonus. I served it over brown Basmati rice with roasted broccoli and green salad on the side.

The recipe was adapted from The New York Times, contributed by Renata Olah. I used olive oil, green lentils, Greek yogurt, smoked paprika, coarse mustard, and homemade stock. I also modified the method and proportions.

Yield: 8 servings

• 2 T olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 12 medium to large cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T smoked or sweet Hungarian paprika
• 1 pound green or brown lentils
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (I used homemade stock)
• 4 cups water
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup whole-milk Greek plain yogurt or whole-fat sour cream
• 3 1/2 T all-purpose flour
• 2 T milk (I used 1 percent)
• 2 tsp coarse salt, divided, plus more to taste
• 1 T light brown sugar
• 2 T coarse brown mustard, plus more to taste
• freshly squeezed juice of one lemon, plus more to taste
• chopped parsley, for garnish, optional
• brown Basmati rice, for serving, optional

1. Finely chop the onion in a food processor.
2. Place a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-low heat, and add oil and onion. Sauté until tender, 1 to 2 minutes. (I used a large enameled cast iron Dutch oven.)
3. Add minced garlic and paprika, and sauté until garlic is fragrant, 1 minute more.
4. Add lentils, stock, water, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes.
5. When lentils are tender, in a small bowl or measuring cup, stir together yogurt, flour and milk. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, brown sugar, mustard, and lemon juice. Whisk to combine.
6. Add yogurt mixture to lentils and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
7. Season to taste with additional salt and adjust seasoning as needed for a slightly piquant flavor.
8. Remove and discard bay leaves. Serve hot over a bed of rice, garnished with parsley, as desired.