Chicken paprikash

 

My new warm Danish socks, while a delight, can't quite cut the chill on their own, so some internal warmth is called for. This is definitely a perfect sturdy, comforting winter dish.

Chicken paprikash

From the New York Times

Ingredients
3 to 4 pounds dark chicken meat pieces (thighs, legs, drumsticks or a mix there of)
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 pound of egg noodles
¾ cup sour cream

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat oil and 1 tablespoon of butter over medium high heat in a large oven-safe pan until frothy. Season chicken with salt and pepper and add to hot oil in pan, working in batches to avoid crowding. Sear skin-side down until skin is crisp and golden before flipping to sear the other side. Remove from pan and set aside.

Once all chicken is browned, reduce heat to medium low and cook onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook until softened. Stir in paprika and flour and cook 4 to 5 minutes until flour is no longer raw.

Stir in crushed tomatoes and broth. Put chicken back in the pan on top of the sauce, trying not to overlap too much for even cooking. Put pan in the oven and cook about 30 minutes until chicken is done.

Meanwhile, cook egg noodles in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Drain and toss with remaining butter.

To serve, put chicken atop buttered noodles. Stir sour cream into tomato mixture and spoon over the top.

Rating: Very pleasant and not too time-consuming. Since we were making this on a weeknight, I opted to serve it over the Black Forest Inn spaetzle, since it's a fast fix from freezer to plate.Your heat and flavor will vary based on the kind of paprika you opt to use, but with either variety, you'll taste warmth.

Apple cinnamon oatmeal

 

All too often there's a long gap between when I espy a recipe I want to try and when I get around to actually making it. Plenty of time to forget the details.

I remembered there was an apple oatmeal recipe I wanted to try for breakfast, and remembered thinking it wasn't something I'd be likely to pull off before work. So when I woke up early one morning when Dave went out to shovel sometime after 5, I figured I'd finally make that recipe that called for steel cut oats. 

Only it didn't, as it turns out. My memory had translated "would take too long before work" into Irish oatmeal, which I rarely get around to on weekdays. (Yes, I know I could speed the process by soaking them overnight, but they're still going to take longer than standard oatmeal, and I scramble around enough as it is.) I could, of course, have gone ahead and made the recipe with old fashioned oatmeal as called for. But by that time I was hungry for steel cut oats, so I went ahead and sort of split the difference. I did some further refinement when I tried this on the weekend, and think this works quite well. 

I did finally get around to making the original recipe. But now I'm spoiled because I've had the version with steel cut oats, which I kind of dote on even though I don't get around to them as often as I'd like. 

 Spiced Apple Oatmeal

Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, October 2020

Ingredients
1½ cups water, plus 3 tablespoons, divided
½ cup apple cider or juice (or more water)
¾ teaspoon cinnamon, divided
1 cup steel cut oats
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
Toasted pecans or walnuts, optional

Method
In a medium saucepan, bring 1½ cups water, apple cider and ½ teaspoon cinnamon to a boil. Stir in steel cut oats and simmer until tender and liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine apple, remaining 3 tablespoons water, butter, syrup, salt and remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon and bring to a simmer. Cook, covered, until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. When apples are tender, spoon some of the cooking liquid into the oatmeal as it cooks, leaving some liquid in the pan with the apples. Simmer apple mixture uncovered until liquid reduces somewhat and becomes more syrupy. Remove from heat and set aside.

Serve oatmeal topped with apple mixture and toasted nuts, if desired.

Rating: The steel cut oat version is really quite nice, and on weekends totally manageable. The old fashioned oat version is just fine, but not something that makes you remember, oh, yeah, that was really good. I should make that again.

 

 

Pear-potato gratin with rosemary and Boursin

 

This is one of those recipes where you look at all of those ingredients and figure it can't be anything but stellar, because I adore all of those ingredients separately. I made this on New Year's along with lamb chops with a balsamic vinegar-orange honey glaze.

Pear and potato gratin with rosemary
From Better Homes & Gardens, November 2020

Ingredients
12 ounces yellow potatoes (about 3 medium)
2 Bosc pears
1 5.2-ounce package herbed Boursin cheese
¾ cup half-and-half
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan, divided
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus more for garnish
½ teaspoon lemon zest

Method
Preheat oven to 375. Slice potatoes about ⅛-inch thick. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and simmer for 3 minutes. Drain and let cool slightly.

Peel pears and slice in half. Remove cores. Slice lengthwise ⅛-inch thick.

Place potatoes and pears in a 1½–quart gratin dish, alternating them.

In a small saucepan, combine Boursin, half-and-half, 2 tablespoons Parmesan and salt. Whisk over medium low heat until just melted. Stir in rosemary and lemon zest. Pour over potatoes and pears in pan. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and more chopped rosemary if desired.

Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes until tender and golden brown. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Serves 4, but not generously.

Rating: As I said, I expected to love this dish. I did not mind this dish at all; it was fairly pretty, more than reasonably tasty, and yet disappointing because I had set this up in my mind as the holy gratin grail in advance. Examined rationally, I would say it got a tad dry, so next time I might up the liquid component, since it probably needed to cook that long both to get tender and brown. Also, while I love pears, they are inherently a bit grainy, and that texture component wasn't entirely pleasing in this context. So this recipe goes into the pile of promising, but in need of refinement. It's good enough to be worth pursuing, at any rate.