I’ve found that in most restaurants the best dish is either the special of the day or the soup. I usually figure out which one it is, and then order it. It turns out to be a good strategy.
A couple of weeks ago I was at a restaurant called Alhambra in Manhattan. There were two specials: a pork chop with apples and onions, and a chicken paprikash with dumplings. I asked my server which one was better, and she said, “Both are really good, but if you are a vegetarian you should probably get the chicken paprikash.” So I did.
The pork chop was very good: tender pork on top of the apples and onions. The paprikash was even better: richly flavored chicken and paprika sauce over the dumplings. I couldn’t explain why it tasted so good, but I suspect that it had something to do with all that butter in the sauce. Butter makes everything taste good.
I’m not sure what’s up with chicken paprikash; it’s a dish I never see on any menu except on Sunday night at Alhambra. But it’s always delicious, whether it’s made with chicken or beef or lamb or veal, and whether it’s made
Since we are talking about sweet paprika, I would like to share with you a few of my cherished recipes. They are family secrets, but I think they will be safe at the other end of the world.
I hope that you will enjoy trying them and that you will come back home and tell me how they turned out.
They are all very easy to prepare, except for one which requires special skills in baking and can only be made on Saturdays. If you try it at home, please let me know your comments.
My mother’s recipe for sweet paprika:
Ingredients:
– 2 lbs sweet paprika (one whole packet)
– 1 head garlic (medium size)
– 1 eggplant (medium size, peeled)
– 1 small yellow pepper (medium size, seeded)
– 1 large tomato (peeled)
– 12 oz wine vinegar (white or red)
– 0.5 lb parsley leaves (finely chopped)
– 3 red onions (peeled and sliced into rings)
Preparation:
1. Roast the peppers, eggplants and tomato in an oven at 400F for 15 minutes until they get soft and their skins can be easily removed. The peppers should not be charred
There are some dishes that I look forward to during the week. Some are so delicious and so simple that they fit into our weekly routine of work, school and family.
Sweet Paprika is one dish I look forward all week long. It’s a very easy side dish that goes well with all kinds of meats, especially chicken and fish.
I love this because it’s sweet but not too sweet, spicy but not too spicy. I use fresh tomatoes from the garden, peppers from my Mom’s garden and onions from our garden or the farmer’s market.
This is a great side dish for quick weeknight meals but also for company (if you can wait that long to eat it). Enjoy!
In any case, there is absolutely nothing wrong with sweet paprika. It’s a wonderful spice, and I use it often. But when it comes to paprika, as with all other spices, it pays to know what you are getting.
The word paprika comes from the word “pepper”, so it may come as a surprise to discover that there is no pepper in the Hungarian paprika.
The two most common types of paprika, the sweet and the spicy, give the exact same flavor to food although the spicy one has more intense color and stronger aroma. The bright red color comes from a small amount of capsicum and, because it is considered to have a sharper taste than other peppers, many people use less of it. The reason why sweet and spicy paprika are preferred over black pepper or white pepper is that they do not cover up the natural flavors of food, but only add to them.
Paprika is a dried, ground pepper that is used to spice up food. It comes in many colors, from the familiar bright orange of sweet paprika to the almost black of smoked paprika and the deep reddish-brown of Hungarian paprika. Smoked paprika is often used in cooking because it has such strong flavor.
Paprika is a staple of Hungarian cooking and can be used for anything from goulash to chicken soup. Paprika can be added whole or ground into any dish. It comes either hot or sweet, so you have a choice when deciding how spicy you want the dish to be.
All three types of paprika are made from bell peppers, hollowed out and hung to dry over a fire. Sweet paprika is made by removing all seeds and veins, and then grinding it into a fine powder. The ground powder is rich red color. Depending on the amount of capsaicin added during processing, it can range in color from pale red to orange-red to deep maroon.
Sweet paprika has its origins in Hungary, where it is known as ‘’különleges’’ or “exquisite”. Sweet paprikas are commonly used with chicken, fish and
Paprika is a spice made from grinding the seeds of the plant Capsicum annuum. The most common variety, sweet paprika, is bright red and mildly hot, with a hint of pepper flavor.
Sweet paprika is used in many cuisines to color and flavor dishes ranging from goulash to deviled eggs. It is sometimes smoked or dried as well.
Paprika can range in flavor from sweet to very hot. The type called pimento is not related to the plant that produces allspice or Jamaica peppers; it comes from the fruit of a different species altogether, Capsicum baccatum (formerly Capsicum frutescens). The name “paprika” comes from the Latin word for pepper, “piper.”
