Thursday 3 September 2009

Paprika Chicken

When I was a little girl I didn't go much for picture books. I either had a selection of aunts to read me proper books until I could read myself, or cook books with colour pictures. Food is an obsession for me that has, as they say, come early and stayed late.

I've posted before about my fascination for my mother's St Michael's cookbook. I have still never used the techniques for boning and stuffing a turkey, filleting a sole or dressing a crab, but it did contain some darn good recipes. The Keema (curried mince) is very good, the bramble mousse is delicious and the paprika chicken is easy, economical and very tasty.

I don't usually re-publish other people's recipes, but since I am fairly sure it is out of print (although available second hand on Amazon) I will do this one.

Paprika Chicken

Butter or oil for frying
1/2kg onions, peeled and finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
4 chicken thigh cutlets
1 tbs paprika
150ml chicken or vegetable stock
Sour cream to finish

Melt the butter in an ovenproof casserole & add the onions and garlic. Cover and cook over a very low heat, stirring frequently, for 45 minutes until golden and soft, almost a puree [this is not the time to take shortcuts and add sugar to caramelise the onions. You need it to be really properly cooked otherwise the onions are quite indigestible]. Raise the heat slightly, add the chicken & paprika. Spoon the onion over the chicken and add the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook in a moderate oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender and the juices run clear. Most of the sauce will have evaporated, leaving you with a thick red puree coating the chicken. Adjust seasoning (probably no more salt but a bit of pepper).

Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

For this meal I cut a cauliflower and an enormous pattypan squash into chunks and roasted them with olive oil and cloves of garlic

10 comments:

Jude said...

Can a chicken have a thigh cutlet? I'm going to try this asap.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Jude, don't you have this book? It's got caramel oranges on the front. By thigh cutlets I mean bone-in thigh portions.

maybelle's mom said...

oh, looks great.

funnily, i read to my two year old from cookbooks all the time.

i have an obession with out of print cookbooks. i really want to hear more about the bramble mousse too.

Bettina Douglas said...

Admit - your number one favorite was the WW Birthday Cake book which was studied from one September to the next! (I recently heard of someone with a really diligent mother who actually had a Dolly Varden cake made for her.)

I still use the St Michael book.

NKP said...

Simple and delish!

Jude said...

I did have it but I think one of my offspring borrowed it. It had the best toad in the hole recipe in I've ever done if I remember correctly.

Alicia Foodycat said...

MM - I'll have to dig out the bramble mousse recipe.

Mother - yes, very true. AND I have given a copy to Norm and Penny. But my cousin Tom got both the train cake and the ghost cake, which doesn't really seem fair.

Natashya - oh it is!

Jude - AnneM has it too.

Esi said...

I've recently become obsessed with old cookbooks. This sounds like a great recipe.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Old cookbooks are the best--this looks easy and delicious!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Esi - It is a good one. It's hard to believe that such a simple thing could be so good.

Deb - Some of them really stand the test of time, don't they?

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