To celebrate the tasty wonderfulness that is chicken, I asked Dave DeWitt’s wife Mary Jane Wilan to share her all-time favorite chicken recipe. Dave may be the Pope of Peppers, but where cooking is concerned, Mary Jane rules the roost. Here’s her take on a classic recipe that features paprika, another much-loved kitchen staple in the U. S.
Heat the oil in a large sauté pan; add the chicken and sauté on each side about 2 minutes, lightly add salt and pepper.
Remove the chicken to a bowl.
Add the onions to the pan and and sauté about 1 minute; add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the chicken back to the pan and add chicken stock, tomato paste, wine, paprika, and thyme. It should barely cover the chicken. If it doesn’t, add more wine or stock.
Cover and simmer 1/2 hour; turn chicken and simmer 1/2 hour more. Remove chicken to a warm platter.
To make the thickener, shake the milk and flour together, hard, in a covered jar.
Add the thickening to the pan slowly (you can even put it though a small strainer to avoid lumps) and stir constantly.
Turn down the heat to a low simmer and stir in the sour cream. Do not let it boil. If the mixture gets too thick, add more milk.
Return the chicken to the pan, cover and remove from the heat.
Put the cooked dumplings (recipe to follow) in the sauce to soak up the flavor.
Dumplings
In a medium bowl, stir the egg until it breaks up. Add the next 3 ingredients and stir. Add the water to make a paste.
Drop by spoonfuls into salted, boiling water and cook until the dumplings rise to the top.
Drain in a colander and then add to the chicken and sauce.
