Once again: Chicken & Paprika

I’ve put them together again, chicken and paprika. I think I’ve found a slightly better combination though. Chicken, paprika and chorizo; this trumps the first recipe I worked on. After making this about three times for different crowds, I’m convinced this is a winner. Maybe chorizo will be my new bacon, smoky and paprika included!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 chorizo, sliced into 2-cm thick coins
8 chicken thighs
2 red onions, peeled and chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
15 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 rounded tablespoon paprika
90 ml shao hsing wine
6 sprigs of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan or Dutch oven and brown chorizo and set aside.
2. Using the same pan, brown the chicken pieces until the skin is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of oil and discard excess.
3. Sweat onions and garlic in the pan for about 3 minutes and then add the paprika and tomatoes and fry for another minute.
4. Add shao hsing wine and deglaze, scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Add chorizo, chicken and thyme into the pan. Add water until it comes up to the halfway point of the chicken. Bring to a boil and then braise for 90 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Paprika

I’ve recently fallen in love with paprika. I find myself unconsciously sprinkling it in more and more of my cooking – stews, whilst sautéing mushrooms, on potatoes, on chickpeas, on everything really.

Here’s one instance: I had an open bottle of Chardonnay, a chicken and a task to cook dinner. So whilst sweating down my onions, carrots, garlic and celery again I found myself reaching for the tin of paprika and sprinkling it as if it was my magic dust into the cast iron pot. It is great. Paprika rocks my world – maybe it is a cooking magic dust.

Paprika Chicken Stew
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 onions, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 rounded teaspoon paprika
750 ml bottle of Chardonnay
3-4 rosemary sprigs
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan and brown the chicken pieces until the skin is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Discard excess oil.
2. Heat remaining olive oil in a heavy based pan or a dutch oven and add carrots, onions, celery, garlic and paprika then slowly sweat vegetables until soft, about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the whole bottle of wine, deglazing and scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. Return the chicken to the pan. Add rosemary and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

* Optional, you can further thicken or enrich the stew with cream and serve over rice, potatoes or noodles.

A Roast Chicken

Chicken is an everyman’s meat. As a matter of taste, chicken seems to be a neutral but tasty piece of meat that most people would eat. I recall a phone conversation with a friend who called to tell me about the new love in her life -- who is a vegetarian; despite being really delighted for her, I chimed that there was a high probability that I would never date a vegetarian since I simply love my food too much and I could not imagine not sharing a meal that never involved a dead carcass. The voice on the other side of the line echoed back, “Yes, to a certain extent I understand, I love chicken. I really do love my chicken. It might make my taste buds sound like those of a peasant, but I really love my chicken. I really do.” Bless that silly friend of mine, chicken is a wonderful bird that almost everyone enjoys, it does not make any of us better or worse than others.



Ingredients:
¼ cup sugar
½ cup plus 1 tsp salt
1 whole chicken
juice of 2-3 limes
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 large clove, minced
¼ cup finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
½ cup canola oil

Directions:

(Start the day before)
Fill a large pot with 4 liters of water, ¼ cup of sugar and ½ cup of salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Let it cool completely.

Add the chicken to brine, cover, and refrigerate for 6 hours.

Heat oven to 250 degree Celsius

Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry, roast for 45minutes or until the skin is crisp.

While roasting chicken prepare the vinaigrette for the chicken –

Whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, garlic, red pepper flakes, cilantro and salt. Then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined.

Pour the vinaigrette over the chicken and serve. (It might be a better idea to serve the sauce on the side)

* Slightly Adapted from, Ruth Reichl (ed), “Foolproof Grilled Chicken”, in The Gourmet Cookbook: More than 1000 recipes, (New York: Condé Nast Publications, 2004), 363-364