Since my apprenticeship in a Paris restaurant, when I was in my teens, I have been intrigued by the flavor and color of paprika. Whenever I print a recipe calling for paprika, the letters come in asking, for example, whether Hungarian paprika and sweet red American pepper are one and the same.
I pursued this recently with George Lang, the owner of Cafe des Artistes in New York City, a food consultant and author of ”The Cuisine of Hungary”
(Atheneum paperback, $17.50). His answer: No. ”The American pepper is fine for cooking and eating raw, but it is not suitable for spice-making,” he said. ”If you dried and ground the sweet American red pepper to make paprika, it would not have much character.”
Perhaps, but I find that most of the paprika sold in American supermarkets tastes mild. And I contend you can give a dish a deeper paprika flavor by combining the ground powder with fresh sweet red peppers.
I prepared breast of chicken with paprika sauce, for example, using powdered paprika and thin sweet red pepper strips; the result was admirable. It was well complemented by a side dish of potato pancakes delicately flavored with onion and freshly grated nutmeg.
Breast of chicken
with paprika sauce
Four servings
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, about 1 3/4 pounds
Salt to taste if desired
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon corn, peanut or vegetable oil
3 sweet red peppers, about 1 pound
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup celery cut into thin, julienne strips, each about 1 inch long
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/4 cup fresh or canned chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1. Sprinkle breast halves with salt and pepper.
2. Heat butter and oil in a skillet and add the breast pieces. Cook about 1 1/2 minutes and turn. Cook about 1 1/2 minutes on the other side.
3. Meanwhile, cut away and discard the core, inner veins and seeds of each pepper. Cut each pepper into lengthwise strips about 1/4 inch wide. There should be about 3 cups.
4. Scatter the pepper strips, onion and celery over the chicken. Sprinkle with paprika.
5. When the chicken pieces have cooked for about 8 minutes, add the vinegar, broth and cream. Bring to the boil, cover closely and cook 7 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Potato pancakes
10 pancakes
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
3 potatoes, about 1 1/4 pounds
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
Salt to taste if desired
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 tablespoons corn, peanut or vegetable oil
1. Peel the potatoes and grate them, using a (processor`s) coarse blade. There should be about 3 cups. Drop the grated potato into boiling water and let simmer 30 seconds, no longer. Drain and run under cold water. Drain thoroughly.
2. Put the potatoes in a mixing bowl and add the eggs, flour, milk, onion, salt, pepper, baking powder and nutmeg.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet, preferably a nonstick skillet. Add 1/4 cup of the potato mixture at a time, flattening each portion into a circle measuring about 3 1/2 inches in diameter. A 12-inch skillet will accommodate about 4 pancakes at a time. Cook about 3 minutes on one side until crisp and golden brown. Turn the pancakes and cook about 3 minutes on the other side.
4. Add more oil as necessary and continue making and cooking the pancakes until all the potato mixture has been used.
