2.10.2009

Chicken, Sweet Onion and Potato Paprika



It's been a year since Chris and I went on our trip to Prague and Budapest, and in that year, we have really come to love Hungarian paprika, so much that the usual McCormick's or Spice Islands brands just don't cut it any longer. We add Hungarian paprika to many of our dishes, especially fall and winter ones, to give them a nice, deep, smoky spiciness. I was thinking about paprika when I decided to create a new chicken dish this past weekend. We tend to do the same chicken dishes again and again, and I wanted something different, something with a little zing. It was an experiment, and one that turned out well. The potatoes were brown and crispy, the onions were soft and caramelized, and the chicken was juicy, so I knew it cooked for the right amount of time. As far as the spice blend goes, the heat was bold with that hint of smokiness only paprika can offer. Since we cooked it all in one baking dish, everything had a vibrant orange-brown color. Chris and I both deemed it worthy of working into our chicken-dish repertoire, especially since it was both delicious and easy.

Ingredients:

2 split chicken breasts, with skin and bone
1 large sweet onion, chopped roughly
3-4 small potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian hot paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 550 degrees. Combine the olive oil and spices in a large Ziploc bag then add the onion, potatoes and chicken. Toss everything in the bag so it is coated well with the spice blend. In a baking dish, lay the potatoes and onions down in one layer, then rest the chicken, skin side up, on top of them. Bake for 40 minutes.




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is Hungarian paprika easy to get your mitts on in the States? This sounds like a dish to try.

Amy said...

We have found "Szeged" brand in several shops here and like it almost as much as what we brought home from Budapest.
Go here to see what it looks like: http://allysonskitchen.com/showproduct.aspx?productid=2373