I really like meatballs, don’t you? Little rounds balls of flavor that adapt so well to so many dishes. Meatballs and spaghetti. Meatballs over mashed potatoes. Meatballs swimming in a mushroom cream sauce. I can remember as a kid my parents making onion infused meatballs that were placed in a chafing dish with cream of mushroom soup and served as “Swedish” appetizers at cocktail parties. I will admit, for the longest time I thought that was a Swedish Meatball. I have since learned better.
Category: Egg Noodle Pasta
Chicken Paprikash and Dracula’s Castle
When I came across a recipe for Easy Chicken Paprikash in my now 25+ year-old Campbell Cookbook, it sparked my curiosity. Just what is Chicken Paprikash. Sounded middle-eastern to me. Boy, was I wrong. Chicken Paprikash is a Hungarian dish. The traditional rendition is made with dumplings and utilizes a whole chicken. It more closely resembles Chicken and Dumplings (surprise!). The more modern adaptations utilize wide egg noodles or even Bow-Tie pastas. Just as the name implies, this dish relies in a heavy dose of Paprika, a spice commonly used in Hungarian cuisine. The sauce takes on a rosy color. And for those Dracula fans, in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, Jonathan Harker dines on Chicken Paprikash during his tourney through the Carpathian Mountains to Dracula’s castle.
Oh my, now my mind is swirling with all sorts of dinner party ideas and counts and scary stuff! Yeah, check the local weather reports and make this on a night that thunderstorms are in the forecast. What fun!
Easy Chicken Paprikash
4 cups cooked Wide Egg Noodles, for serving
1 tablespoon Butter
4 Chicken Breasts, boneless
10 oz Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
3 Teaspoons Paprika
1 Pinch Cayenne Pepper
1/3 cup Sour Cream
Parsley for garnish
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook egg noodles according to package directions. Keep warm until ready to serve.
While the water comes to a boil and the noodles cook, melt butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.
Brown chicken for about 5 or 6 minutes per side in the hot butter. Remove, keep warm and set aside.
To the now empty skillet, heat soup with paprika and cayenne pepper. Add sour cream and whisk to blend smooth. Heat through.
Return chicken to the pan, cover and simmer until breast are cooked through and no longer pink. Spoon sauce over chicken to coat well.
Spread pasta on a serving platter. Top with chicken and garnish with parsley.
Whatever you do, don’t serve with Blood Oranges!
Buttery Egg Noodles with Poppy Seeds
Sometimes simple is best. These buttery noodles are a wonderful alternative to mashed potatoes as a side. They go well with just about any pork recipe. The pasta looks pretty along side breaded chicken breasts or baked fish, too. You can even drizzle the noodles with a little gravy or pan drippings to bring out more flavor. Depending upon the “main” star, adding a little crushed garlic is also a nice touch. For added color, sprinkle finished pasta with a little chopped parsley.
Not only are these noodles easy to make, they can become the base for a wide variety of dishes, such as meatballs or baked chicken tenders.
Buttery Egg Noodles with Poppy Seeds
1 lb Wide Egg Noodles
2 Tablespoons Butter, melted
1 Teaspoon Poppy Seeds
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a full boil. Add pasta, stir and cook until just cooked through, about 10 minutes.
Drain and reserve about 1-2 tablespoons pasta cooking water.
Melt butter, pour over noodles and toss to coat. Moisten pasta with pasta water.
Sprinkle with poppy seeds. If desired, add chopped parsley for a splash of color.
Here’s to simple ideas!
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