Sometimes the main isn’t the hard thing to come up with. The sides. That’s the thing. All these great recipes out there that say cook this and serve. Serve with what? Fried gnocchi often fits the bill nicely.
Fried gnocchi is a fun and simple side that adds a bit of flash to dishes with creamy sauces. And they’re good plate props. You can pile them up or scatter them around. Mix them in or float them on top. The plate is your canvas after all.
Technique
It’s not really much of a recipe but here goes.
Pre-fab gnocchi Butter
Bring a pot of well salted water to boil and cook the gnocchi according to the directions – likely around 2 minutes or until they float. Remove from water and toss gently with enough butter to ensure they don’t stick to one another. At this point you can set them aside while you deal with other things.
About 5 to 10 minutes before you’re ready to serve heat a non-stick pan with a tablespoon or so of butter and gently fry the pre-cooked gnocchi. Slightly toothy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Serve with the main of your choice…
This isn’t authentic. Chicken paprikash is a braised dish. This is a technique I came up with to try to get somewhere close to braised chicken flavour with crispy skin.
Invest in some fresh quality Hungarian paprika. Paprika is the star of this dish. If your star ingredient is weak your results will be weak. You can mix your paprikas up to taste as well. Want a hint of smoke? Use a bit of smoked paprika. Want some spice? Hot paprika actually has a bit of heat.
chicken paprikash rethought
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts or 4 thighs skin-on, bone-in
- 2 tsp olive oil to brown the chicken
- 1/2 onion finely sliced
- 1/2 cup chicken stock plus more while roasting
- 1 Tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
- 1/4 cup full fat sour cream mixed with 1 tsp of flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Rub the chicken with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Fry the chicken, skin side down, in a pre-heated, ovenproof skillet. You just want to get the skin to a light golden brown. Now place in the oven for about 10 minutes to roast.
- Remove pan from oven, remove chicken and spoon off all but 2-3 tsp of fat.
- Gently fry the onions in the remaining fat until soft and translucent over medium to low heat - 5 to 7 minutes.
- Now the tricky part. Add the paprika to the pan along with enough oil to keep the paprika wet and toast on absolute low for around 30 seconds. If you scorch the paprika even a little bit it will turn bitter. Have your chicken stock at hand to stop the frying instantly. It’s your safety blanket. If this scares you (and it should), add a little drizzle of stock when you add the paprika and cook the resulting slurry for 30 seconds.
- Add the stock - you want it about 1/4 inch deep in your skillet.
- Return the chicken to the skillet and place in oven until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165F, around 15 to 20 minutes. Keep your eye on the liquid - you may have to add a bit more stock along the way.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and set the chicken aside. Mix the flour into the sour cream mixture in a clean bowl until thoroughly combined.
- Temper the sour cream mixture by adding a couple tablespoons of hot liquid from the chicken to the sour cream and stirring. Do it again. Next mix the tempered sour cream into the remaining liquid. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Serve chicken paprikash with sauce. It’s works with almost any starch - potatoes, pasta, or fried gnocchi.
