Chicken Paprikash
I’m not sure when I first made Chicken Paprikash; it was one of those “huh, this looks interesting” recipes I came across in high school or so, in some magazine or another. It’s one of the dishes that brings joy to my Recalictrant Foodie heart – spectacular in its simplicity; it doesn’t need to be elevated because it’s already there.
This is one of my favorite cold-weather comfort foods.
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 lbs. chicken, on the bone, with skin – your favorite cut. I prefer thighs for this, it’s all good.
- 3 Tbsp fat – this can be butter, rendered chicken fat (schmaltz), bacon grease, or oil.
- 1.5 large onions, peeled, halved, and sliced thin.
- 1.5 Tbsp paprika
- 0.75 tsp salt, divided
- 1.5 cups chicken stock, divided
- 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch (approximately, see method)
- 1/3 cup sour cream or full-fat greek yogurt
METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Saute the onions in the fat with 0.5 tsp salt over medium heat until they are golden and translucent. Remove from the pan and set aside; brown the chicken in the same pan (in batches if necessary). Note that you’re not cooking the chicken completely here, you’re just getting some nice color on them. Place the chicken pieces in a heavy dutch oven and set aside.
Pour off all but a couple tablespoons of the fat, return the onions to the pan, add the paprika and the remaining salt and cook over medium heat for a couple minutes; stir in the tomatoes and a cup of the chicken stock and simmer for 7 or 8 minutes.
Pour the onion/paprika mixture over the chicken, cover, and bake for an hour to an hour and a half, until the chicken is tender and starting to slip off the bone. Remove the chicken to a rimmed platter or serving dish, cover and set aside (you can take it off the bones at this point of you like); place the dutch oven on the stovetop over medium-high heat, and whisk in the remaining chicken stock. Cook for a couple minutes, and then whisk in the cornstarch a tablespoon at a time, letting the sauce thicken after each addition. You may not need all of it; you’re looking for a gravy consistency that you like. (It should have a velvety body but not be overpoweringly thick.) Turn off the heat, let it stand for a minute (you want it to drop just below the boiling point), and then whisk in the sour cream. Add the chicken back in and serve over wide egg noodles or with dumplings.
