Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Chicken Paprikash: One-Pot Wonders

The One-Pot Blogger Party is winding down, and I've got just a few posts to go. Next on the husband-chosen list was Chicken Paprikash, loaded with red and green bell peppers, onions, and paprika.

And since it's an Emeril Lagasse recipe, there was also a kick of cayenne pepper and a generous "poof!" of black pepper as well.

I made a couple changes to the recipe. It called for white wine, but I used red because I had a bottle open for another recipe. That was a conscious decision. I've substituted white wine for red and red for white in plenty of recipes. Unless the color is critical, it works well enough.

The second change was accidental. This recipe uses quite a bit of paprika. I accidentally grabbed the wrong one.

Yes, I stock a few different kinds of paprika - sweet, half-sharp, sharp, and smoked. The recipe called for sweet paprika, but I grabbed the smoked instead. Oops. I don't know if I'd recommend that substitution - it depends on whether you like the flavor of smoked paprika or not - but it was good nevertheless.

The third change wasn't much of a change, really. The recipe calls for one red bell pepper and one green bell pepper. I had an average-sized red bell pepper and a rather small green one. I rooted around in the fridge and found half of another red bell and used that to make up for the size of the little green fella.

So the amount was close to what was needed, but the color scheme was skewed a little towards the red.

There was one teeny problem with the recipe as it was written though. This is supposed to fit in a 12" skillet. Maybe my cookware is freakishly small, but I'd suggest using a larger skillet or even a dutch oven.

This recipe was pretty easy - slice some peppers and onions, measure some spices, brown the chicken, cook the vegetables for a while, combine it all with canned tomatoes, slap the cover on and let it cook until it's done. Then it's just a matter of cooking some noodles, adding sour cream and a few fresh herbs, and maybe making a salad to go with.

The dish has sour cream added to it at the end of cooking, but you can serve it with a little extra sour cream on the side so people can add as much as they like. Besides adding richness to the sauce, the sour cream helps to cut the heat a bit. But it's still got a decent kick, and it would be even spicier if you used a sharp paprika rather than a sweet (or smoky) one.

This was another winner for us, but for people who don't like spicy food, you might want to dial back the cayenne just a little bit. Sorry I can't give you the recipe for this - we're only allowed to publish a limited number of them, But the book is now for sale, or check my giveaway that ends Oct. 1.

For my part in this party, I've been given a copy of the cookbook, a jar of Emeril's Essence and serving bowls made by Zak! I also had several items to give away, courtesy of Morrow Books. Check the sidebar (upper right) for giveaways that are still running. 

(Note: I'm also giving away some non-Emeril items that aren't related to this blogger party.)

Bloggers who participate in this party and complete the 3-week assignment will receive some additional books by Emeril as well as a small cash reimbursement. One blogger will be chosen to receive a 6-quart Emeril-branded crockpot made by T-Fal.

For more information on Morrow's cooking blog, see The Secret Ingredient. Want to pre-order the book? Clicky-clicky right here.

Are you on Facebook? The Secret Ingredient and Emeril have pages there. Or if you prefer Twitter, you can stalk find Morrow Books and Emeril there as well.
Yum

1 comment:

Miss @ Miss in the Kitchen said...

I haven't had Chicken Paprikash in ages, and boy does yours make my mouth water!

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