Food Shouldn't Be This Dangerous

Last night, making dinner almost killed me. Well, not quite, but it was moderately disastrous. So I decided to make this Chicken Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings from this month's Food & Wine. I had all the ingredients and everything, but I completely messed up the timing of the recipe. This led to me trying to chop onions in a hurry. Life lesson: DO NOT chop onions in a hurry. I somehow managed to chop through the side of my thumb so deeply that it went halfway through my fingernail, leading to me having to sit down on the floor to avoid passing out from the sight of all the blood. This was a very Becky thing to do; I'm known for my capacity to hurt myself at any time. Nevertheless, it was still upsetting, and my thumb hurts like a mother.

After I recovered from that trauma and got the dish into the oven, I realized that I had forgotten to place it on a baking sheet. How did I realize this? When I heard the sizzle of bubbling-over sauce hit the bottom of my oven and started to smell my kitchen filling up with smoke. Oops. In addition to a sliced-open thumb I now felt like I was about to burn the house down. What a mess.

Fortunately, the dish was pretty good. This would have been much easier to make if I had had an oven-safe skillet, avoiding the need to transfer the chicken to a casserole dish before putting it into the oven. I wasn't crazy about the recipe calling for chicken thighs; they were a little fatty. What I liked best about this meal were the biscuit dumplings. Mine were slightly under-cooked, though, so make sure you don't take this out of the oven prematurely. Also, put it on a cookie sheet in case it bubbles over. And don't slice your onions in a hurry.


Chicken Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings
serves 4

• 2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 5 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed, divided
  
• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2-1/2 c. chicken stock or broth, divided
• 1 c. sour cream, divided
• 1 large white onion, finely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp. hot paprika
• 3/4 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 tsp. thyme leaves

Preheat the oven to 425. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dust lightly with flour. In a large, deep skillet, melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in the olive oil. Add the chicken and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned, about 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken to a plate.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Pulse in the remaining 4 Tbsp. of butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk 1/2 cup of the stock with 1/2 cup of the sour cream and drizzle over the dry ingredients. Pulse until a dough forms.

Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes. Return the chicken to the skillet. Stir in the paprika and caraway and cook for 30 seconds. Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken stock and 1/2 cup of sour cream and stir until smooth. Add the thyme leaves and bring to a boil.

Scoop twelve 3-Tbsp-size mounds of biscuit dough over the chicken. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the biscuits are cooked. Turn on the broiler and broil for 2 minutes, until the biscuits are golden. Serve the goulash in bowls, spooning the biscuits on top.

Everyday Yum

After all the Thanksgiving fuss has died down a bit, I finally have time to post a recipe that I tried out earlier this week that I really loved. Sunday night I made a recipe out of Martha Stewart's new food magazine, Everyday Food, and I was pretty disappointed with it. The recipe was for "lighter" sesame chicken, and it just didn't have a whole lot of flavor. The next night, with some apprehension, I tried a different recipe from the same magazine, this time for Pork Paprikash. Fortunately, it was much better, and is definitely going to be added to my catalog of go-to recipes that are fast, easy, and delicious.


Pork Paprikash
serves 4

• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 oz wide egg noodles
• 1 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces
• 1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), excess fat and silver skin removed, halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick pieces
• 2 Tbsp sweet paprika, divided
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 can (14 oz) whole peeled tomatoes in juice
• 1/2 c. sour cream

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook noodles until tender; drain and return to pot. Stir in butter; cover and set aside. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine pork with 1 Tbsp paprika. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium-high. Cook pork, tossing occasionally, until lightly browned on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Return skillet to stove, reducing heat to medium. Add remaining Tbsp oil and onion; cook until onion is soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add pork, remaining Tbsp paprika, tomatoes with their juice, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, cooking until sauce is slightly thickened, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Serve paprikash over noodles.