Chicken Paprikash

Chicken paprikash with fried gnocchi

This isn't authentic. Paprikash is a braised dish. This is technique I came up with to try to get somewhere close to braised chicken flavour while keeping the skin nice and crisp. 

Invest in some fresh quality Hungarian paprika. Paprika is the star of this dish. If your star ingredient is weak your results will be weak. You can mix your paprikas up to taste as well. Want a hint of smoke - use a bit of smoked paprika. Want some spice - hot paprika actually has a bit of heat.

Recipe

Serves two

2 chicken breasts or 4 thighs, skin-on, bone-in 
2 Tsp olive oil to brown the chicken
1/2 onion, finely sliced
about 1/2 cup of chicken stock plus more while roasting
1 Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
1/4 cup full fat sour cream mixed with 1 tsp of flour

Preheat oven to 400F. Rub the chicken with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and fry the chicken, skin side down, in a pre-heated, ovenproof skillet. You just want to get the skin to a light golden brown. Once you have it where you want it place in the oven for about 10 minutes to roast. 

Remove pan from oven, remove chicken from pan and spoon off all but 2-3 Tsp of fat. Gently fry the onions until soft and translucent over medium to low heat for 5 to 7 minutes. 

Now the tricky part. Add the paprika to the pan along with enough oil to keep the paprika wet and toast on absolute low for around 30 seconds. If you scorch the paprika even a little bit it will not be good. Have your chicken stock at hand to stop the frying instantly. It's your safety blanket. If this scares you (and it should), add a little drizzle of stock when you add the paprika and cook the resulting slurry for 30 seconds.

Add the stock - you want it about 1/4 inch deep in your skillet. Return the chicken to the skillet and place in oven until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165F, around 15 to 20 minutes. Keep your eye on the liquid - you may have to add a bit more stock along the way.

Remove the skillet from the oven and set the chicken aside. Mix the flour into the sour cream mixture until thoroughly combined in a bowl. Now temper the sour cream mixture by adding a couple tablespoons of hot liquid from the chicken to the sour cream and stirring. Do it again. Now mix the tempered sour cream into the remaining liquid. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve chicken with sauce. It's works with almost any starch - potatoes, pasta, fried gnocchi - just not wild rice - that would be awful.