RCP /Foodletter: Quick chicken paprikash pilaf

[Robin Garr]

Quick chicken paprikash pilaf

Okay, to tell you the truth, this dish isn't really a paprikash, and it isn't really a pilaf either. But it's a tasty and comforting quick dish for a brisk autumn evening, an idea randomly inspired by the finally changing weather and, perhaps more important, ingredients that I found around the house on a day when I really should have gone to the grocery and stocked up.

A few chicken thighs, some onions, green peppers and garlic, a cup of rice, a couple of cups of broth and a smallish dose of deliciously smoky smoked Spanish paprika was all I needed to bring it together, and the entire dinner needed only about 45 minutes to bring from the fridge to the table. On a busy day, there's nothing the matter with that.

For the record, a more authentic chicken paprikash is a rich Hungarian stew of boneless tender chicken and onions cooked in sour cream with plenty of mild paprika, usually served over egg noodles. A proper Turkish pilaf, like a risotto, normally requires a bit more effort than I devoted here, carefully parching rice in butter before cooking it airtight.

So sue me. Or better yet, try this hearty dish, and then perhaps you'll thank me instead.

INGREDIENTS: (Serves two)

4 chicken thighs or mixed parts, bone in and skin on
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt
Black pepper
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
Dried red-pepper flakes
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
2/3 cup long-grain rice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
Salt (if necessary)

PROCEDURE:

1. Rinse the chicken pieces and let them drain but do not pat them dry. Put a large skillet or saute pan over high heat. When it's very hot, put in the damp chicken pieces, skin-side down. Don't move them for a minute or two, then shake the pan to make sure they're not sticking. Turn heat to medium-high, season them with the smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste, and continue browning, turning often, until well-browned.

2. Peel and mince the garlic; chop the onion and bell pepper, and put all these chopped vegetables with a small shake of dried red-pepper flakes in the pan around the chicken pieces, which should have given off more than enough fat to brown them. Season to taste with dried(In the unlikely event there's not enough, add a little olive oil.)

3. When the vegetables are translucent and starting to brown and the chicken is well browned, stir in the rice and stir until it's well-coated with fat from the pan. Add the chicken broth.

4. Cover the skillet tightly, or if you prefer, transfer everything to a saucepan with a tight-fitting lid. Place over low heat and cook tightly covered, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes or until the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid. Check seasoning and add salt if necessary.

5. Serve with your choice of green vegetable or salad; entirely by accident I discovered that the smoky, savory rice makes a wonderful combination with lima beans, so much so that next time I might cook 1 cup of limas right in with the rice.

<B>WINE MATCH:</B> Either a crisp, acidic white or a light, fruity and acidic red would work fine; it was delicious with Francesco Rinaldi & Figli 2006 Grignolino d'Asti from Northwestern Italy.

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Sounds delicious, Robin.

This is very much like a Carolina perloo. "Perloo" is a corruption of pilaf/pilau/whatever. It is what resulted from the assimilation of Indian pilafs into Southern American cuisine after sea commerce introduced the dish back in the 1800s.

-Paul W.

Made this tonight, Robin ! Seemed like a good thing to cook in my tajine..

I made very minor changes - removed the skin from the thighs, and added some EVOO in place to oil the dish. I used a most gorgeous smoked paprika from Herbie's Spices, and red capsicums (didn't have green). At the end I added green beans for colour. Easy easy dish, thanks for the inspiration. The tribe were getting grilled chicken before I received your foodletter... :)

[Robin Garr]

Made this tonight, Robin ! Seemed like a good thing to cook in my tajine..

Why, how very clever!

You might try the skin-on method, though. I know the skin is fatty, but when you use this method in which the rendered skin fat is all that's used for sauteeing, it seems so ... clever ... and with no added fat, the dietary cost isn't great. What's more, since the skin ends up soft, not crisp, it's not a major act of denial to pull it off and discard it before serving the dish.

Made this tonight, Robin ! Seemed like a good thing to cook in my tajine..

Why, how very clever! ;)

You'll keep, Robin. :)

Pete has chicken skin aversion, which is why I did it this way to start. Also, you can't heat the tajine without some liquid in it or it will crack, so I couldn't get it blazing hot first if it was dry. But next time I make this, I'll use the cast iron pot and try as you suggest, Robin.

Thanks !

[Robin Garr]

next time I make this, I'll use the cast iron pot and try as you suggest, Robin.

I love doing it that way, for flavor and economy, even if I discard the chicken skin.

Oh, by the way, I did indeed use Herbie's smoked paprika. It's awesome!

Oh, by the way, I did indeed use Herbie's smoked paprika. It's awesome! :D

Cool !! I'm glad to know it went down well. Actually, Robin, I was thinking when I was making this dish that it might work well with the Chermoula mix from Herbie's as well...

I love doing it that way, for flavor and economy, even if I discard the chicken skin.

An excellent point, Robin. Even more elegant when you consider the following.

This is more Mark Lipton's or Frank Deis's professional domain. But here's background on poultry fats that's long been public, yet gets inadequate play IMO. I raise it because today's habit of seeing fats as undesirable obscures important differences, and even essential nutrients in some of them. Case in point: Poultry fats.

Though they come from animals, poultry fats chemically resemble olive oil. Both have components liquid at room temperatures, partly or completely solid when refrigerated. In both, principal fat constituents are monounsaturated and the dominant fatty acid is oleic. Further, according to Enig's food-lipids book, chicken fat is a source of the "antimicrobial" palmitoleic acid, considered essential for the human immune system (olive oil is strong in natural preservatives, including tocopherols, making it slow to go rancid, but also important as human dietary antioxidants). Below is a comparison (numbers vary with the nutrients taken in by the olives and the chickens).

Principal fatty-acid and tocopherol ("vitamin E" antioxidant) components:

Olive oil 14% palmitic, 71% oleic, 10% linoleic; tocopherols 126 mg/kg

Chicken fat 23% palmitic, 42% oleic, 19% linoleic; tocopherols 28 mg/kg

This suggests you could do worse than cooking with a moderate amount of natural fat rendered from chicken. (I have an ironic image of people carefully discarding chicken fat, and at the same time taking expensive dietary supplements with similar content. Like the old parody of someone replacing a manual lawn mower with a powered version that carries them around on a seat, then having to buy an exercise machine to make up for the formerly inherent work-out. Actually used in a chapter of a rigorous engineering textbook, warning about frivolous or cynical consumer technology that merely takes people's money without serving their needs.)