Sunday, November 28, 2010

Paprika Chicken with Garlic

This is my new favorite chicken recipe. Paprika Chicken with Garlic. A Spanish dish.
It is a dish that any restaurant would be more than happy to charge you $25.00 for. 
So why pay through the nose for something which is so simple to make.

Ingredients
6 to 8 chicken thighs
2 cups of flour 
3 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 couple of glugs of olive oil
20 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
2 cups heated chicken stock
1/3 of a cup of dry white wine
3 bay leaves
2 Tbsp dried thyme
Salt & pepper

Dredge the chicken in flour then in the paprika. If is isn't covering well take some paprika in your hands and rub it into the chicken. Set it aside.
Heat the olive oil on medium heat in a deep frying pan or a dutch oven. Add the garlic and heat for 2 or 3 minutes. Don't let it brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
Brown the chicken well on both sides. Don't crowd it. Three at a time is probably the easiest depending on the size of your pan. When all the chicken are well browned place the chicken pieces skin side up in the pan. Hopefully your pan is large enough to have the chicken all on one layer,
Put the garlic back into the pan distributing it evenly and between the pieces of chicken. Add the bay leaves, the thyme and the salt and pepper.
Add the hot stock and wine to the pan and turn up the heat bringing it to a boil.
When it boils, turn the heat to simmer, cover the pan and cook for 25 minutes.
After the chicken is done, take it out and put in in a warming oven.
Take out the bay leaves. 
Bring the stock back to a boil and reduce it to about 1 1/2 cups.
Put the chicken on warmed plates and pour the sauce and the pieces of garlic over the chicken.

I like this with roasted small potatoes with the skins on. Take a couple of handfulls of the small potatoes you can buy packaged in most stores, red or yellow it doesn't matter. Put a bit of olive oil in a cast iron fry pan and on high heat fry them for a few minutes shaking them often. Sprinkle them with some rosemary, salt & pepper and perhaps a little bit of garlic powder. Shake them up one last time.
Put them, pan and all into a 450 degree oven and cook them for about 20 minutes.