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Friday, May 19, 2006

 

Chicken Dance, or (John's Chicken Paprika)

Sunny Lyn suggested the name change (don't wanna mess with my theme)

This recipe is legend and passed down the family (and now into my family). It was first made for me by an older hungarian man who couldn't seem to cook a small batch of anything. He taught me how to fish, and I fell a little in love with him. Every time we eat it we have to tell stories of John and his twisted english. This meal takes some effort to prepare, a wonderful meal to cook with friends during an afternoon, drink some wine while preparing then sit down and watch a movie whilst it finishes cooking.

Now I can't do all the fancy stuff like Doug does, and I don't have the actual recipe written down anywhere--this is from memory, so I'll try to bold the ingredients as I go.

You'll need a large, heavy bottomed stew pot.

On medium heat melt 2T Butter, add 2 Lg White Onions, halved and sliced thin. Add 1 Lg Red Pepper, 1 Lg Yellow Pepper.sliced as per onions. (this is flexible, red or yellow, it matters not so long as you have two of them.) Add 2 Lg Cloves Crushed Garlic. While that is saute-ing slowly. Slice 3 Med Tomatoes, add to pot. Stir and add Paprika. (Now this is tricky, the Paprika I use is called Spanish Paprika, it's a deep dark red, and a little spicy, I use at least 2T of it... at least. Depending on the size of the pot you may want to go as high as a 1/4 C).

Okay where were we? right .. Paprika. By this time the Onions and Peppers should be very soft and reducing nicely, stir and cover the pot. While you're waiting get the chicken ready. Now you know your guests best, and what else you'll be serving, but this recipe will feed six, nicely, so I'd probably put in 6 Chicken Drumsticks and 6 Chicken thighs. Trim off the excess skin and fat, ignore the slight burning smell coming from the pot, (turn the pot if your burners cook unevenly). By the time the chicken is ready, so should the pot. What you're looking for is a blackened bottom, but not charred, I slight nuance I know, but so long as the burner was on medium the whole time, this shouldn't take more than 10-20 minutes.. the amount of time it takes you to prepare the chicken, see?

Move the onion/pepper mixture out of the way and place the chicken pieces, skin side down, on the blackened bottom. Cover chicken with the onion mixture, add 1/2 jar of hot pickled peppers(without the juice, we're saving that for later) and replace the lid. You can add more, or less peppers here, depending on your palate. Add some pickled jalapeños, red chilli peppers, up to you. This is where the heat comes from.

Saute, covered about 5 minutes, check to see if the skin has taken the colour from the bottom, if it hasn't, cover and wait a few more minutes. Never scrape the bottom. When the chicken has good colour to it loosen from bottom. Add, 1/2 of the juice, from the pickle jar. 1/2t dry Dillweed, 1/2t Salt. Stir, cover, reduce heat. Simmer gently for an 1- 1 1/2 hours. Just before serving stir in 2C sour cream, add more salt if needed... gastronomical orgasms to follow.

This is not a weight conscious meal. Indulge yourself. Homemade egg noodles are divine (hunt down a recipe), John's son, (the heir to the recipe) serves it with creamy cucumber salad, also divine. Trés easy recipe there, slice a cucumber realy thin, let it soak in some of the pepper pickle juice or barring that, vinegar, jalapeno, tobasco and pepper, just before serving drain off vinegar and add whipping cream. You'll lick the bowl I promise. Another idea is to serve with fresh crusty bread. The sauce over the chicken is--well I can't say enough about how good this sauce is--don't be shy about dipping a slice of bread in and sopping it up.

X

Comments:
okay - THANK YOU for this - and I love the story along with the recipe...

This one looks like a keeper.
 
Thanks. Can I ask, exactly what do you mean by 'hot pickled peppers'? Are you talking about pepperoncini? This sounds like a key part of the recipe (since you use the juice to make the sauce), so could you please tell me what brand you use?

I'll let you know how this goes when I try it out . . . which I could do any time. I have a chicken in brine downstairs. Only need the pickled peppers and bell pepper.
 
Umm, I'm not sure if you have this brand. It's called Bick's pickled Banana Peppers and underneath the name it says HOT (which leads me to believe they may package milder varieties, although I've never seen them). If you can't find them honestly don't sweat it. I'm sure you have another jar of something hot sitting in vinegar, dill's maybe?.. I've used pickle juice and jalapeños when I couldn't get my hands on the banana peppers.
 
I made it tonight. "Too sour" according to Mr. Fussy (my son), but my wife and I liked it a lot. I have to tell you, I added some Cara Mia artichoke hearts to it (at the same time I added the pepperoncinis), and they were delicious. If you can bring yourself to mess with the recipe, try it.
 
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