Chicken Paprikash

Chicken Paprikash

Lotus Farm has resumed selling chickens again, and this past Saturday, I was lucky to get one so freshly harvested that it wasn’t frozen. I craved chicken paprikash and found a recipe by Sam Sifton in The New York Times. (He recommends cooking chicken thighs and drumsticks or whole legs, but I cooked all of the chicken but the back.) I used the last of some paprika that Anna Griswold, the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute staffer who runs the information booth, brought me from Hungary. I served the chicken over egg noodles from Vivac Winery, in Dixon, accompanied by a side of braised chard and hakurei turnip greens from Malandro Farm. The entire meal was delicious.

The Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 pounds chicken thighs and drumsticks, or whole chicken legs
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, like canola
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow or Spanish onion, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3 tablespoons Hungarian paprika, sweet or hot, or a combination
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup canned crushed tomatoes or 1 large ripe tomato, chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth, homemade or, if not, low-sodium
• 1 pound egg noodles
• ¾ cup sour cream

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 400. Season the chicken aggressively with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, heavy, oven-safe sauté pan or Dutch oven set over high flame, until the butter is foaming. Sear the chicken in batches, skin-side down, until it is golden and crisp, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Then turn the chicken over, and repeat on the other side, approximately 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Remove chicken to a plate to rest.
3. Pour off all but a tablespoon or 2 of the accumulated fat in the pot. Return the pot to the stove, over medium heat, and add the onion. Cook, stirring frequently with a spoon to scrape off any browned bits of chicken skin, until the onion has softened and gone translucent, approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and stir again, cooking it until it has softened, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the paprika and the flour, and stir well to combine, then cook until the mixture is fragrant and the taste of the flour has been cooked out, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes and broth, whisk until smooth and then nestle the chicken back in the pan, skin-side up. Slide the pan or pot into the oven, and cook until the chicken has cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly, approximately 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, set a large pot of heavily salted water to boil over high heat. Cook noodles in the water until they are almost completely tender, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Drain the noodles, and toss them in a bowl with the remaining butter, then toss again to coat.
6. Place the chicken on top of the noodles, then add the sour cream to the sauce, stir to combine and ladle it over the whole.

This locally inspired recipe is brought to you by Pam Walker. Pam is an avid home cook, writer, and local farm and food activist who is also a board member of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute. Thank you, Pam, for helping inspire us to use locally sourced ingredients!