Paprikash - Hungarian Chicken Stew (Pileći paprikaš)

This dish of Hungarian origin is very popular in Eastern Europe. There are many versions of it, I think every family has one, but this recipe is my favorite. Paprikash made of various vegetables and meat is an ideal comfort food. Paprika spice, sweet or hot, is an essential part of the meal. This seasoning is made from ground dry red pepper and used to add color and flavor the stew. Nowadays, you can buy it everywhere. I prefer this Hungarian brand. (see picture below) 

People usually serve this dish with pasta or noodles, but I like it best with molded polenta. (see pictures)

 

You need:

• 1 lb skinless chicken breast, cut up
• 8 oz (250g) mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped (canned tomatoes is ok as well)
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 Tbs. sweet paprika
• Salt and black pepper
• ½ cup water
• 1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sour cream (optional)

Steps:

1. Chop and slice all vegetables and meat too.
2. In a large saucepan heat vegetable oil and add chopped onions and sauté it until soft.
3. Add chicken cut in small pieces. Stir fry until they are brown.
4. Stir in 1 tablespoon of paprika.
5. Add mushrooms, green pepper, tomatoes, garlic, salt and fresh black pepper.
6. Cook stew over medium low heat for 20 min. Cover the saucepan. Stir occasionally.
7. Mix water, flour and sour cream and stir in the stew. In 5 min, paprikash is done.

If you want to serve it with polenta, make it before the stew, put it in some small bowl and move to the freezer. After about 45 min, you will get firm polenta in the shape of the bowl. 

 

Travel & Food: Puerto Rico, Plus Caramel Flan Recipe

That was my second time to visit Puerto Rico in the last two years. I enjoyed beautiful beaches, exotic plants and animals as before, but this time I was more focused on food, I wanted to spoil myself by cocina criolla. (that’s how Puerto Ricans call their cuisine)

It was funny I expected some seafood stuff, but it turned out Puerto Ricans are not crazy about that, what they really like it is roasted pork. Whole grilled one... that’s their favorite. I read somewhere that Puerto Rico was surrounded by very deep ocean so fishermen were not able to catch a lot, so they had to import fish and other. Not sure about that, but anyway Puerto Ricans are big fans of “inland” stuff. They like to grill meat and you can see a lot improvised grill places all around.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to try street food, but I used every opportunity to try local food in the restaurants. I have to say the best restaurants you will find are in resorts and in the capital city, San Juan. What I ate the most was plantain. It happened that every local dish had them. My favorite one was “Mofongo”, the ball made of mashed and fried plantains and stuffed with fish or chicken or beef and sauce poured over. 

1. Pasta with Plantain; 2. Mofongo; 3. Plantain Soup

Also, I tried for the first time Puerto Ricans’ favorite desert “Flan”. I was amazed with its taste so much that the first thing I did when I came back home was make this gorgeous goody. After ambitious research I came up with a wonderful recipe. There is a tricky part with making good caramel and it took me a while to figure out the best way to do it. Flan looked and tasted so smooth and professional... no need to mention I was super proud of my work.

Caramel Flan

You need:

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can (12 oz) carnation or evaporated milk
• 1 tbs. vanilla extract

 

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
2. Find a round glass baking dish with about 9 inches diameter. You need outer pan too.
3. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt sugar, stirring constantly. If you want you can add a tablespoon of water. As soon as sugar becomes golden brown and liquid remove it and pour over the baking pan. Don’t wait otherwise you will get dark and hard caramel which is useless. Cover the sides of the pan with caramelized sugar too. Cool it until is cracked and cold to touch. Set aside.
4. Blend eggs, both milks and vanilla extract in an electrical blender.
5. Add flan mixture into pan. Cover the pan using double aluminum foil. To be sure that steam doesn’t penetrate into pan cover it by lid too.
6. Pour water in outer pan half way through.
7. Bake flan for 60 min.
8. When it is done cover it by plastic foil and remove to the fridge for overnight.
9. When ready to serve remove it from the fridge, give the pan a gentle shake to loosen the flan from the pan’s side or use a knife. Place a plate on top and flip from top to bottom. When you remove the pan, some caramel will start to fall down over flan, some will stay on the top.
10. Serve flan with a cup of coffee, the best Puerto Rican one.

 

Creamy Asparagus Soup

One of my favorite soups... simple and elegant with superb flavor. The secret is to add ingredients that go so perfectly with asparagus: butter, thyme, lemon and sour cream.

When you buy asparagus always pick those that look crispy and firm. I prefer green over white ones. 

 

You need:

• 2 pounds (900g) asparagus
• 2 chopped shallots
• 5 chopped scallions
• 3 tbs. butter
• 4-5 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• salt & black pepper
• sour cream
• lemon juice

 

Steps:

• Cut the ends of asparagus in 1 inch (2.5 cm) and blanch the rest in boiling water for 5 minutes. Remove asparagus, drain and cool adding ice cubes. Cut tips from asparagus and keep them with the ice to preserve green color. They’ll give soup crunchiness and will be nice garnish.
• Chop shallots and scallions.
• In the large saucepan heat the butter and add onions. Simmer them for 10 minutes on medium heat.
• Add the asparagus stalks and in 5 minutes pour 5 cups of chicken broth.
• Season the soup. Add thyme.
• Soup is cooked in 35 minutes on low medium heat.
• Puree it with a hand blender. If you use regular electric blender please cool the mixture down before pureeing, otherwise it is going to explode and destroy your kitchen walls.
• Return the vegetable mix to the pan, stir in a cup of milk and cook it additional 10 minutes.
• Add asparagus tips at the end.
• Serve soup with sour cream and lemon juice.