...but mmm, I love this dish! And it's about time I give Italy a break food-wise and get back to the other half (or 1/4) of my roots - Hungary! This is one of those meals that I was always asking my mom to make growing up. Oddly enough, I think this is the first time I've made it myself. It's yummy, different, and the dumplings are a blast to make (always something my mom and I would do together when she cooked it at home - a wonderful memory).
Next time - and this is probably sacrilege - I may try adding some chopped carrot and onion in at the beginning, just to play around a bit. (UPDATE! I made it with chopped onion and sliced carrot - see new photo - and it was great! Also, I cooked the drumsticks with the sauce, but in the end, took the drumsticks out, cut the meat off into bite-sized pieces, and returned them to the sauce, and that was great. AND, the sauce was a little thin, so I put a tablespoon or so of rice flour in a small bowl, added a little sauce to it and stirred until the rice flour and sauce were combined, and then returned that to the pan and stirred it in. Great thickening trick taught to me by my friend Archana.)
CHICKEN
1-2 large cloves garlic, chopped
Olive oil
1 package chicken drumsticks (5)
Flour
Ground black pepper
3 tsp good Hungarian paprika, plus more
5-6 cups chicken broth
Little squeeze of lemon
Salt
SPAETZLE/DUMPLINGS
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup flour or so
Salt
Coat the chicken lightly in flour with a little paprika and black pepper mixed in. Saute your garlic in a few tbsp of olive oil in a dutch oven, then add 3 tsp of paprika. Stir, then add your chicken and brown it well over medium heat. If it starts to get dry/near burning, add a little chicken broth. Once the meat is browned, add enough chicken broth to cover the drum sticks. Bring to a boil, then turn down and allow to simmer for at least an hour.
In the meantime, make the spaetzle. Beat the eggs, then add the flour 1/3 of a cup at a time and stir in to the eggs to make a soft, sticky dough.
About 5-10 minutes before you're ready to eat, bring the chicken and its broth to a boil again. Use a spoon to scoop out small (maybe 1/4 spoonfuls? 1/16?) bits of spaetzle dough, then dip into the boiling broth. The spaetzle should fall off the spoon when you do this. Repeat until you've gone through all the dough. The dumplings will rise to the top as they cook. Let it boil another minute or so, then serve!
Love.
This is an H & R favorite too!!! I put in slivered red peppers and onion. I never had a recipe for the spaetzle, so thanks for that! I think the Hungarian term is nokedli although Grandma would have called them lokshen.
ReplyDeleteAh, I stand corrected, thank you!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea for the red pepper and onion. We felt like it could use just a little more to it. Thanks!