“I KNOW HOW TO BOIL WATER; I JUST DON'T KNOW WHEN IT'S DONE": "Chick"en Paprikas

Saturday, December 28, 2013

"Chick"en Paprikas

3 Tbsp shortening
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 chicken bouillon cube
1/2 tsp garlic powder (just don't tell my sister Barb)
8 chicken thighs, skins removed (if you like legs, you can use 4 legs and 4 thighs)
1/2 cup milk
1/2-3/4 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp flour
A double batch of spaetzle

Day before: (your choice)
Prepare spaetzle a day ahead, drain well, and store in a covered casserole in the refrigerator. This saves you from making everything on the same day and helps the noodles to be firmer.

Day of dinner:
Melt shortening in a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-low heat.
Add onions and celery and brown slowly.
After browning, add skinless chicken pieces, bone side down, cover with lid, and cook for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn chicken, sprinkle the chicken pieces with the paprika, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Cover and cook for 10 minutes more. After this 10 minutes, add 1 cup water and the two chicken bouillon and continue to cook over medium-low heat with lid on for another 10 minutes.

* **After 10 minutes, when it comes to a boil, reduce temperature to low.***Continue cooking with lid on for an additional 35 minutes.
Remove chicken pieces to a casserole, cover and keep warm.

In a gravy shaker, add 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 or 3/4 cup sour cream, and 2 Tbsp flour.
Shake well and add to liquid in pan.
Cook over medium heat until it starts to thicken slightly.
Add the prepared spaetzle and toss gently and heat through.
When hot, layer the chicken pieces right on top of spaetzle, if serving from skillet.
If serving on a very large platter, pour the very hot spaetzle in the center of the platter and arrange the chicken pieces around the edges.

Makes 4 generous servings or 8 smaller servings.

My Grandma Chick taught her daughter-in-law, my mother Anna, how to make this for my dad. It's the best "chick"en dish I've ever eaten or made.

Enjoy! Élvez! Piacere! Gustirati! Radosť!

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Natural Resource

Beginnings

It was tradition in my family that soup was served almost every Sunday. There were only a handful of Sundays where soup wasn't part of the menu. On those days, we probably took a trip to Rivesville, West Virginia to visit with my Grandma, who usually had her own pot of soup on, and homemade bread to sink our teeth into. Sundays started with Mass, and after returning home, we would have breakfast. One of my favorite morning dishes was palachintas (yum). Mom would already have soup on the stovetop, and between noon and 2 o'clock it was time for the "soup feast." You could tell time at our house by the Sunday meal plan. A lot of them were based on the time of the football game, or other sporting event. Soup was always served as the noon time meal, followed by a hearty meatloaf, roast beef, stuffed cabbage, chicken paprikas, or the like, at suppertime (usually around 4 o’clock). It seemed like all we did on Sunday was eat and relax. You would wonder how you could be hungry for supper at 4 or 5 o’clock. Amazingly, you were. There were times I would remember that if there wasn’t enough roast beef to make you content, Mom would give you a slice of bread on your plate and cover it with gravy (Gravy Bread). What an added feast we thought we were getting. Little did we know, there probably wasn't enough meat for seconds, and who cared, because there was always plenty of gravy for that "oh so special" Gravy Bread. I really don’t remember a lot of desserts. I know we probably had them from time to time, but even if there were, I don’t know how one would find, or want to find, the room to fit it in. Well, all this talk is making me hungry. Go turn on the water and let’s get started!

Dedication

I dedicate this website to the 4 best cooks I know: My mother, who nourished me from the day of my first breath, both physically and spiritually; my mother-in-law, introducing me to her family favorites and customs; my husband’s grandmother, who had a unique, physical and verbal way of teaching me all her different techniques, to pass on traditional dishes; and last, and foremost, my heavenly mother, Mary, who is always by my side guiding me with spiritual intervention every step, and ingredient, of the way. It is with a deep love of my heritage that I also dedicate this collection of recipes to all the cooks who are just starting out and continuing the tradition of using recipes that are "family recipes." I hope that this website will serve to preserve some of my "family recipes" and to kindle an interest in traditional cooking among the younger families in a not always traditional way.

Enjoy!
With much love, Beve