Recipe

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Chicken Paprikas

This is one of my favorite cold-weather recipes. It’s also what I consider to be peak comfort food. (Kari wrote recently about comfort food, and got me thinking about what I turn to when I need to nourish my body and my soul.) Paprikas is right up there. It’s creamy, spicy, hearty, and warming. Plus, it’s very, very easy.

(I recognize that for a lot of people, the instant that you say “dice an onion” a recipe ceases to be “easy.” But if you are not a big onion dicer, you can usually find pre-diced onion at the grocery store in the convenience foods section, so please don’t let the presence of a diced onion deter you from trying this.)

One of the things I love about this recipe is that it is very flexible. Have leftover chicken from dinner last night? Use that. Only have frozen chicken thighs? Use that. Want to see if bell peppers would be good? Toss some in with the onion. Have two pounds of chicken breast instead of one? Great. Have one potato instead of two? Super. Have an extra half-cup of chicken stock lying around? Add it right in. No sour cream, but you have Greek yogurt? Excellent, that works too. Don’t like spice? Don’t use hot paprika. Don’t have a potato but you have some frozen diced hash browns? Those would probably be great. Use less or more sour cream. Use less or more flour. Use a potato or don’t. This recipe is very adjustable and always delicious. It’s also amazing as leftovers, and I am not a person who particularly relishes leftoevers.

It is, however, not particularly photogenic.

Chicken Paprikas (adapted from Joy of Cooking)

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked or not*, diced, shredded, or not

1 Tbsp vegetable oil or butter or a combination of both

1 white onion, diced

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and diced (optional but highly recommended)

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

2-4 Tbsp paprika (any combination of sweet or hot paprika you like)

1 tsp salt

Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)

8-16 oz sour cream, light or full fat

2-4 Tbsp flour**

1 package egg noodles

Instructions

  1. Add oil/butter to the bottom of a large pot. Turn stove to medium and add diced onion once the butter has melted.
  2. Saute the onions gently until they are translucent.
  3. Add paprika and salt to the onions and stir until the onions are well coated.
  4. Add chicken stock and chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. (You can skip this step if your chicken is already cooked.)
  5. Prepare egg noodles according to package instructions.
  6. If using chicken breasts, remove from broth and shred; return shredded meat to pot.
  7. Peel and dice potatoes, then add to the pot.
  8. Cook for 15 minutes more.
  9. During the last 10 minutes of cooking, add flour to sour cream and whisk until completely incorporated.
  10. Ladle 3-5 spoonfuls of broth into the sour cream/flour mixture and whisk to temper. Do this three times, then add sour cream and broth mixture back to pot, stirring to incorporate. Cook for five more minutes.
  11. Add salt and cayenne to taste.
  12. Spoon paprikas over egg noodles (maybe with a dollop of sour cream/Greek yogurt on top?) and enjoy.

* This works great with shredded rotisserie chicken, which you can buy in bulk from Costco.

** The flour is purely for thickening, so you could probably use cornstarch instead or just skip it entirely. This can be quite soupy without the flour, though. Honestly, it can be quite soupy even with the flour; you will probably have to play with your sour cream to flour ratio a bit to get it perfect. If you like a thick sauce, I would err on the side of more flour than less. You can also squish some of the potatoes so that they add to the thickness of the soup.

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Salad Sunday

I made a big fall salad last week and it was SO GOOD. It was a little fussy, because I went All Out by roasting a sweet potato and making a batch of crispy quinoa. But the result was well worth the prep work. And it wasn’t difficult prep work; just a little time consuming. I enjoyed it so much, I made it again yesterday, this time omitting the sweet potato and crunchy quinoa. Still delicious.

I started with the basic premise of my favorite fall salad, this mesclun salad with goat cheese and maple glazed pecans. But then I changed nearly everything about it. Except for the dressing. The dressing is so good.

This salad has responsibility spinach plus spicy, feathery arugula which pairs well with the sweet/tangy dressing and the creamy goat cheese. It has pomegranate seeds for a tart, juicy burst of freshness. It has roasted sweet potato for a little meatiness and that nice crunchy, mealy combo of textures. It has crispy quinoa for additional protein and crunch. It has sliced apples for additional tartness and another texture. Finally, it has nuts or seeds for more protein and fat, sweetness, and crunch. Everything about this salad is SO DELICIOUS and screams “There is so much to enjoy about fall!” 

Spinach and Arugula Fall Salad with Maple Dijon Vinaigrette (inspired by Once Upon a Chef)

Salad Ingredients:

  • Baby spinach (10 oz)
  • Arugula (10 oz)
  • Pomegranate seeds (2.5 oz) (or you can use dried cranberries or dried cherries)
  • Tart apple, sliced thinly (1)
  • Goat cheese, crumbled (4 oz)
  • Salt and pepper (to taste)
  • Pecans (5 oz) (or nuts/seeds of your choice; my favorite are the Sweet & Spicy Pecans from Trader Joe’s)

Optional Extra Salad Ingredients:

  • Sweet potato (1)
  • Cinnamon (to taste)
  • Cayenne (to taste)
  • Extra virgin olive oil (1 Tbsp)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Quinoa (1 cup)
  • Water (2 cups)
  • Extra virgin olive oil (1 Tbsp)
  • Kosher salt (1/2 tsp)

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

  • Minced garlic (1-2 tsp, although you will want to measure with your heart)
  • Minced shallots (2 Tbsp)
  • Salt (1/2 tsp)
  • Freshly ground black pepper (1/2 tsp)
  • Maple syrup (3 Tbsp)
  • Dijon mustard (1 1/2 Tbsp)
  • Red wine vinegar (4 Tbsp)
  • Vegetable oil (10 Tbsp)

Directions:

1a. (Totally optional step if you like fussiness and have time and inclination.) Prepare the crispy quinoa. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Rinse 1 cup of quinoa under cold water for 1 minute. Add rinsed quinoa and two cups water to a small saucepan. Over high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until all the liquid is gone, about 15 minutes. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Once quinoa is done cooking, allow to cool slightly. Then pour onto prepared baking sheet. Add olive oil and salt to quinoa and mix through with your hands. Roast for 15 minutes, then stir. Roast for an additional 10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until the quinoa is golden and crisp. 

1b. (Totally optional step if you like fussiness and have time and inclination.) Prepare the roasted sweet potato. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. Wash and peel a sweet potato. Cut the sweet potato in half-inch cubes. (This can be very imprecise.) Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the sweet potato cubes with 1 Tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper, and cinnamon and cayenne if using. Spread the cubes on the baking sheet and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, tossing halfway through, until cubes are brown around the edges.

1c. Prepare the salad. Add a handful of baby spinach and a handful of arugula to a large bowl. Add a sprinkling (a tablespoon or two) of each of your toppings: crumbled goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, crispy quinoa, roasted sweet potato, pecans, etc. Top with another handful of spinach and arugula, then repeat until your bowl is full of yummy fall goodness. Slice the apple right before serving and add it to the bowl.

2. Prepare the dressing. Add all the ingredients to a jar, cover and shake until emulsified. 

3. Dress and eat. Add dressing to your salad, toss, and enjoy. 

Notes: 

  • I store the quinoa and the sweet potato in separate Tupperware containers in the fridge. They keep nicely for several days, or until your husband eats them because they are delicious even by themselves.
  • This recipe makes a large portion of dressing, but I love this vinaigrette so much I like to keep it on hand in the fridge. I use emptied and washed glass salad dressing jars to store my own dressing.
  • This salad is endlessly customizable. When I don’t have pecans, I use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds or pistachio nuts. Sometimes I don’t have an apple, so I don’t include one. If the grocery store doesn’t have pomegranate seeds, I’ll use dried cranberries or dried cherries.

What salad do you get really excited about? Are there salad ingredients you need on every salad… or any you REFUSE to eat? I won’t eat a tomato or a beet — really, I’m quite sure — thank you very much, and I really prefer to avoid blue cheese, although occasionally I will tolerate it on a wedge salad.

I am kinda sorta attempting to complete NaBloPoMo, with the full expectation that life will make it impossible any day now. If you want to follow along, or join the fun, check out San’s blog here. 

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Mom’s Potato Salad

I mentioned my mom’s potato salad recently, and I was delighted that some of you were curious about the recipe. 

When I went to my parents’ new home for July Fourth, my mother sent me home with a) a HUGE hunk of ham, b) cookies, and c) – MOST IMPORTANT – a big container of potato salad. 

I managed to make the potato salad last for three additional days, by eating it only for breakfast (except for one day, when I also ate it for lunch) (and then there were a few sneaky spoonsful at odd intervals). Drawing it out for so long required MUCH restraint. 

When I found the recipe – in my mother’s own handwriting, so: extra precious – I learned with shock that there is MAYONNAISE in this recipe!!!! I do not care for mayonnaise, and this is certainly not a “mayonnaisey” potato salad. It is a mustardy potato salad. But… apparently there is some mayonnaise in it as well. 

Note that my mother references the hard boiled eggs (which I abhor) and appeals to my potato salad sensibilities to override my dislike and add them anyway. I have never tried the salad without the hard boiled egg, so I can’t say for sure it’s truly that important. But I will say that, when very finely chopped, the egg sort of disappears into the background.

This recipe is highly flexible. I don’t recall ever having green pepper in it (though that would be a delicious addition). Sometimes there are pimientos, sometimes not. Sometimes there is celery, sometimes not. The key is in the FLAVOR, not so much the ingredients.

One highly critical element of this recipe is the dried mustard. It gives a special zing to the potato salad that you can’t get with jarred mustard alone.

BUT: The magic of this recipe is in the pickles, I think. Or, in the secret ingredient, which is pickle juice (NEVER vinegar, even though the recipe supposedly calls for vinegar), drizzled out in small amounts until the salad tastes as it should. (NOTE: This is not a pickly salad. But the pickles are CRUCIAL.) 

Salt is also extremely important, and this recipe may require some salt tinkering. I think different potatoes have different levels of starchiness (even among the Idaho varietal of potato, which is called for in this recipe because of its crumbly texture), and so the salt gets absorbed differently with each batch. 

Do make sure that you do MULTIPLE taste tests, to ensure proper salt/pickle level. 

Delicious as a side, but also for breakfast.