Lunchtime in Paris

Lunch from Hungary

This weekend's food adventure was a Hungarian Chicken Paprikash...or as they say in Hungary...Csirke Paprikas. As you may or may not know, I've decided to do a recipe from every country represented on the flags in the side bar, this weekend it was Hungary. I found quite a number of recipes on the net but this is the one I followed the most closely www.epicurean.com, there is a nice article all about the history of Hungarian food as well, really quite informative.



So, starting with the ingredients: chicken, paprika, sour cream (creme fraiche in French), onion, green pepper, tomatos, tomato paste and flour and eggs for the dumplings...that is a whole 'nother story...and various other things.



This is just for fun...a close up on the tomatoes, and guess where they came from? Surprise, I grew them on my tiny little balcony cuz I'm an urban survivor (got about 15 in all but they were pretty tasty). Also, since the only homemade chicken stock I had in the fridge was Asian flavored (ginger and lemon grass), and I really didn't have the time to make more stock this weekend I opted for some special Eastern European boullion cubes (I know it's cheating but it seems like such less of a cheat since I did have to go out of my way to get them).



Chicken, I don't know what its like where you come from but here in Paris, no matter where I buy my chickens they are never really totally plucked. There are always some feathers left on.



Next to an open fire out in the backyard the best thing is a gas range to singe all those annoying feathers off. This really works.



Here is the start of preparation. Once the chicken was cleaned of all the feathers I cut it into pieces and put the pieces in a plastic bag with 1/4 cup flour, 2 teaspoons of paprika (or maybe a little more), some salt and some pepper (1/4 teaspoon each...more or less depending on taste). Then shake to coat well.



Then brown the chicken pieces in a mix of oil and butter (I used peanut oil). Some recipes call for lard, which must be delicious but I have a resident non pork eater so that was out for me.



After the chicken pieces are nicely browned on each side take them out of the casserole and put them aside. The next ingredients to get ready are some chopped onion (one large), some paprika (lots...I think I used 1/4 cup minus the amount to toss the chicken), some tomato paste (two tablespoons) and should be one cup of stock but I used water and the cube.



Sautee the onions and paprika in the cooking juice from the chicken til the onions are soft, then add the tomato paste, and then add the stock (or water and cube).



This will make a nice rich thick base for the sauce, cook for five minutes but not too hot.



Here is the browned chicken that I set aside, with some green peppers cut into rings and some chopped tomato (three small). If I hadn't of been so lazy this weekend I would have peeled them, it's really not all that much of an effort...and I promise that next time I will show you my foolproof tomato peeling technique.



Put the chicken pieces, the pepper, and the tomato into the casserole with the nice thick sauce, mix and turn the heat way down. Cover and cook 'til the chicken is done...and here is where you must watch out. It's best if the chicken cooks in its own juices and that you don't add water. But, since the sauce is so thick, the heat must be way down so nothing sticks and burns...I decided to let my chicken cook for one hour, however I was checking frequently at the end and at about 40 minutes it was starting to stick.

If this happens to you don't despair. Just transfer everything to a new casserole and DO NOT scrape up any of the stuck bits because they will give a bad taste to your sauce. Then put the old pan in the sink to soak.



At the very end, put two cups of sour cream (creme fraiche) into a bowl and gradually stir in some of the hot sauce the chicken has been cooking in. This is because your cream will curdle and cook strangely if you just pour it in on top of the cooking chicken. The idea is to raise the heat gradually and then mix the whole thing together.



And here you have it, the creme fraiche has been added to the chicken, pepper and tomato mixture and the whole thing smells really delicious. Nice color too, I think.



And this is a close close up on the chicken paprikash with peppers and onions.



This is a really tasty dish. My only disaster this weekend was the dumplings and I am just going to have to do some more research. They were so strange, like these gobs of weird dough, perhaps that is what a dumpling is? In any case, I was not satisfied with my results and so I will attempt them again at a future date.

In case you would like to compare paprikash recipes here are some other links I found interesting:

Chicken Paprikash 2

Chicken Paprikash from Hungary

Chicken Paprikash and other good things from June Meyer

Extensive list of Hungarian recipes including Chicken Paprikash

I'm thinking about a delicious Chicken Machbous for next weekend, this is a traditional Persian gulf recipe and fairly complicated too (my favorite kind) and since I've had at least one visitor from Bahrain, one from the Emirates, and one from Kuwait... that means three flags in one recipe.

See you then and in the meanwhile, happy lunching!

Malaysia: Laksa for lunch

First of all, Ramadan Mubarak, a joyous and blessed holiday to all my Moslem friends and visitors!

And now for today's lunch (which was prepared with a halal chicken from my neighborhood Islamic butcher shop...quality meat and reasonable prices). As I stated in my last post, I've decided to do a recipe for every flag that appears on my sidebar. Today's recipe is from Malaysia, a very delicious Laksa.

I got the recipe here at www.soupsong.com. If you want to follow along you can get today's recipe precisely here: soupsong Laksa recipe.  An excellent site and a must for you soup lovers out there. Also, there is an extensive collection of international soup recipes, enough to keep me busy making soup for many weekends to come!

I actually made three trips to the supermarket for this recipe and here are some of the ingredients (the easy ones).

This is where I ran into difficulty. There are just so many Asian herbs...is this Laksa leaf? It's the very essential ingredient and so I did not want to make a mistake.

Or is this Laksa leaf? The recipe calls for "Asian basil"...I live in Paris and everything has a different French name, even Asian herbs. The first herb was labelled rau ram in the Asian grocey store and the second was labelled "Thai basilic" who's to know? In the end I went to www.asiafood.org where the Laksa leaf entry refers to "Vietnamese mint" and I chose the first green herb pictured above...what a lovely smell it has.

This recipe has several steps to it:

First you must have cooked chicken and four cups of stock (I suggest you make your own it's so much nicer),

Secondly you must make a spice paste for the flavor,

Thirdly you must cook some noodles and prepare everything for the final soup, and

Finally you put the soup together and make the garnish plate.

Since I would be needing cooked chicken and stock, the first thing to do was make both. I decided to follow my instincts on this one and so I made my stock using some of my green herbs (I bought lots of different kinds), fresh ginger slices and scallions.

This is the start of the spice paste: lemon grass (only the tender hearts), galangal (like ginger but milder), shrimp paste, garlic, scallions, and some red hot peppers.

This goes into the food processor and the recipe says it should look like "a speckled mush" well, perhaps.

Then once that is done, you add some chopped coriander, some tamarind paste, some sugar and some tumeric.

And I put the food processor back in the cupboard and get out my trusty morter and pestle...the food processor makes everything just too watery and this is supposed to be a "paste".

Here is the cooked chicken (from the chicken I used to make the stock with)  and the cooked rice noodles.

Here is the sauce that I made by frying the spice paste in two tablespoons of peanut oil until lightly colored, then adding four cups of my homeade stock plus a mix of 1/4 cup chopped coriander and 1/4 cup chopped laksa leaf and then adding  a can of coconut milk.

And here is the final Laksa lunch. First I put some of the noodles into a bowl, then I added some chicken, and then I ladled some of the sauce on top. Serve with a plate of various greenery and condimets...really delicious and your kitchen will indeed smell wonderful if you make this.

Just a bowl of Laksa.

Wow, what an adventure but I still have so many questions. I liked this dish and my daughters liked it too but...was this really Laksa and did I pick the right leaves? I would really appreciate any comments, criticism, or suggestions on how to make an even better Laksa! What a fun afternoon cooking.

So, next weekend I think we will head to Mexico and I am going to spend the week searching for a most traditional Mexican dish. In the meantime I will be posting my usual sandwiches and various other things from the office...

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Lunching!

Lunch in Tunisia

Last weekend I made a lovely Tunisian speciality, brik à l'oeuf.  I hesitated before posting this entry because I was not really thrilled with the results. But, since Ramadan is just around the corner and I probably won't be making these again for a while, here goes.

First of all, the ingredients:

Sheets of brick (or brik)...more about that later

Oil for cooking

Canned tuna (packed in water is better)

Capers

Parsley (finely chopped, flat leaf only)

Shallots (or finely chopped onion, as you wish)

Fresh eggs (and I do stress FRESH...the whole problem for me today was old eggs...)

Here are the briks. And so what is a brik? Check out this link www.ochef.com. I can buy brik in the supermarket in Paris, you may have to substitute phyllo dough or Chinese spring roll skins...you get the idea.

In any case, making brik à l'oeuf is not an exact science, everyone has their own special filling, I chose to fill mine with:

Tuna, chopped parsley, minced shallots, and capers as well as the egg.

The technique for making brik à l'oeuf  involves placing the sheet of brik into a shallow bowl, and then putting  some small amounts of  tuna, minced shallot, minced parsley, capers and then a whole egg in the middle. Then you must somehow move the whole thing to the frying pan where the hot oil awaits...

Into the frying pan...

The sides of the sheet of brik will stick together naturally, but as you can see if you don't have really fresh eggs the yolk will break and your brik won't be so much fun...

Spoon some oil over to cook fast but once again with these worthless old eggs...the yolk is supposed to stay runny but when they break they cook too fast...

This is what it will look like in the end. A lovely golden brown color.

If only the eggs had been fresh....please scroll all the way down to the bottom of this next link and you will see what happens when fresh eggs are used www.davidgreer.ca The yolk is still a little runny and the whole thing is gorgeous. You can use lots of other things to fill the brik as well, potatos, minced meat with spices...it's only a question of imagination...

And, keep reading if you're still interested in Tunisian food because my kids brought me back this excellent vacation photo...

What else but a magnificent Tunisian couscous with peppers on top. Taking this step by step and from the top down we start with the peppers

They look like this when they are raw and  in French they are called "corne de boeuf": beef horn.

Just cut a slit in the side and pour in some salt

Then shake the pepper to get the salt all over,  put them into some hot oil and cook until tender...and then put them on top of your couscous...which I will make another day...

til then, happy lunching!

Chicken with Lemon and Olives - Part II

Important: please make sure to read Part I of this post for the full chicken with lemon and olives experience, thanks.

So, when we left off yesterday the chicken was marinating in the fridge. This morning I got up and prepared all the ingredients for cooking:

Clockwise from upper left, grated onion, the marinated chicken, olives, chopped parsley and coriander and fresh and preserved lemons.

The olives are just so perfect,  and now let's get down to cooking.

Getting started, the stove top is clean, the marinated chicken in the cassorole (which is way too small) with some of the grated onion and the parsley and coriander.

Ok, so we bring to a boil and cover, and wait...30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add the olives and the preserved lemons and cook some more...

This kind of slow cooking is always better when you have helpers. Here is my daughter hanging out by the stove, testing and giving advice...while I reduce the sauce...this is an ideal cooking situation.

The chicken has been placed in the serving platter, and the reduced sauce is going on top, adding the fresh lemon juice at the end is the key to a successful sauce.

And whoops, the photo shows that my equipment is perhaps not so up to date, be assured, I didn't burn the sauce, that old black circle is from once long ago popcorn making...real people don't go out and buy new casseroles when they do recipes and anyway, I like this casserole, I've been using it for 20 years now.

And ready to be served, some very delicious chicken with lemon and olives, make sure you have some good bread to soak up the sauce,

and it's nap time for me, what an adventure, please do try this recipe yourself it's just lovely,

happy lunching

Chicken with lemon and olives - Part I

As promised, here is the first installment of "Chicken with Lemon and Olives".

It's all thanks to this fabulous book:

Here is my much loved, much used and oft spilled upon copy of Paula Wolfert's wonderful book. You can get your own copy here and at 12.35 USD, it's a bargain.

The recipe for Djej Emshmel (Chicken with Lemon and Olives) is posted over at epicurious (link to the recipe and also some instructions for preserved lemons). I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the recipe here so I'll just let you go the the link and you can print from there if you want to try this yourself. It's exactly the same as the recipe in the book.

My shopping mission was successful and here are all my ingredients. I got my two chickens from the Moslem butcher shop and they are free range hallal chickens...so authentic. If you can't get hallal perhaps you could try kosher but in any case you should make sure they are free range.

It is very important to follow this recipe exactly. Paula has written about preserved lemons and in her own words: "Their unique pickled taste and special silken texture cannot be duplicated with fresh lemon or lime juice, despite what some food writers have said." She is right! and if words are not enough to convince you how about this:

The picture is not great because it was getting late and I was losing the light but I think it should still be obvious that the fresh lemons (on the top) and the preserved lemons (on the bottom) are not the same. And in the case where you can't find these near where you live you can order online so now you have no excuse not to try them.

This dish has to be marinated over night (hence the installments). Here is the chicken before it went into the fridge in it's marinade of salad oil, saffron, ground ginger, paprika, cumin, salt, black pepper, and thinly sliced garlic.

Tune in tomorrow to see how it turned out and til then,

happy lunching!