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Archive for December 2009

Spicy Paprika Chicken Stew

December 30, 2009 by Nathalie Herling.

I like to think of this Paprika Chicken Stew as a comfort food for Spice lovers.This Spicy Paprika Chicken Stew was featured on the Dish Reality TV show Webisode #1 http://www.ellenandashleytv.com so if you would like to see my kitchen, meet the fabulous Ellen Gafney and Ashley Wood and watch this dish being made along with a Carrot Almond Soup and Goat Cheese tart please watch.

Gently roasted paprika and garlic are the key to the sauce and flavors in this main meat dish.

5 Tablespoon of Olive Oil

1 lb of skinless chicken breast and thighs but in bit size pieces.

3 to 4 Tablespoons of Hot Hungarian Paprika

1 teaspoon of salt and pepper

Chicken Broth 1 large onion chopped1 green pepper, half chopped fine and the other half in bite size chunks.1 red or yellow pepper, half chopped fine and the other half in bite size chunks.2 Tablespoons of flour

2 teaspoons of butter

In 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, saute over medium heat for about 5 min a lb of skinless and boneless chicken breasts and thighs cut into 1.5 inch pieces. A heated clay pot on the stove does this very nicely. Lighty brown all around and add 3 Tablespoons of Hot Hungarian Paprika (key ingredient) . Turn and coat the pieces of chicken in the paprika allowing the paprika to lightly toast in the olive oil. Add half a teaspoon of cayenne if you really like it spicy. Gently squeeze out the soft garlic meat of a roasted full head of garlic (chopped garlic can be substituted)  into the pan of sauteing chicken and paprika. Cook for about 4 min more, add another Tablespoon of olive oil heat for a min or two and then sift or sprinkly over the chicken about 2 Tablespoons of flour, cook for couple minutes more to get the flour blended and heated and set aside, covered to keep the moisture and flavor steaming in. The heat in the clay pan will keep cooking the contents of the pot slowly, so you might want to lightly stir once or twice.

In another pan... preferably a clay cooking pot because I love what it does for breaking down the vegetables softly and the clay works to make a very velvety  sauce, saute 1 chopped onion in 2  Tablespoons of oil. Saute slowly and let the onion completely break down to you have a caramely like sauce, you can speed this step up but the more you cook the onions the more complex the flavors of your dish will be. Chop finally half a red and half a green pepper. Cut the other half of each of the peppers in to medium chunks. We will save the chunks to add later. Combine with the cooked onions a half of the finely chopped green/red pepper mix and continue to saute. You will want to let these pepper onion ingredients get very soft. They are going to be a part of the smooth part of your paprika sauce.  Cook for about 10 min, more covered... longer time, slower the cook, lower the heat the better. Patience makes a great stew particularly in a clay pot. Add 2 cups of chicken broth and the chicken mixture, the larger green and red pepper chunks. 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper.  Cover and simmer for 20 min. or as mentioned before Long, Slow, Low. In the last couple of minutes of cooking add 2 teaspoons of butter to add a nice gloss and flavor.

Vegeta (not recommended because of MSG content) can be used to give it a quick jolt of flavor and is a staple in many Slavik homes.

Serve immediately or reheat later. This recipe can be made and refridgerated a day in advance allowing the flavors to really develop.

Rice is my personal favorite side dish for this stew or boiled potatos could also be served to compliment this spicy chicken stew well.

Visit Ellen and Ashley's website http://www.ellenandashleytv.com/

Posted in videos, main course, recipes, la chamba cookware | No Comments »

Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking by Paula Wolfert, Book Review

December 28, 2009 by Nathalie Herling.

Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Clay Pot CookingIt has taken me way too long to write a review about one of the best Clay Pot cookbooks to ever come out on the market, Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. Why…this book is complex. Not a simple, quick to market book. This is a long term own. Any serious cookbook library should include this for two main reasons… one it offers an excellent view into the uniqueness and depth of Mediterranean cooking and two, for people like me, who are starved to cook authentic recipes in claypots, this book is a fabulous adventure.  

If you are new to Clay Pot cooking, the clay pot primer is the best I have seen in print.  You can find out enough about almost any clay pot to confidently start using your clay on a daily basis including information on which of your pots are great for what kind of cooking.

As for the recipes. They are far from typical. Maybe if you are from a delightful seaport fishing town in the Mediterranean they might seem common but to the wide audience they are unusual and very well thought out. Each recipe is prefaced with what type of pot might be traditionally used and offers multiple types of possibly more common cooking pots you can used.

So far the recipes I have tried have been very tasty, easy enough to prepare and worth making multiple times. Her recipe Creamy Bagna Cauda has become a party stable for me (more to follow on this). The Moroccan Fish Tagine with Tomatoes, Olives and Preserved Lemons was quick easy and a well received unusual addition to my Seven Fishes Christmas Eve Dinner.

I had the pleasure of hearing Paula Wolfert talk about her book at the James Beard Foundation in Nov.  If you have the opportunity to hear her speak, GO!. She offers incredible knowledge, cooking skill background and a warm informative style that is very inspiring.

This book is what the clay cooking movement, tradition, trend, lifestyle… whatever you chose to call the current state of Clay Pot Cooking, has needed. A serious, well researched book by a very important culinary personality. Paula Wolfert’s Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking is a cookbook you will want to study, refer back to often, and truely enjoy exploring each recipe.  

I would love to see Paula Wolfert’s collection of clay pots. It must be amazing. I do wish this book had more photos of the recipes completed in clay pots. The photo of Paula Wolfert shopping for clay pots in Morocco is particularly charming.

More postings about recipes from this book in the future. Please share your experiences as well.

If you would like to buy this book and help support Creative clay cooking please use this link. This review is a genuine endorsement of this book.

Paula Wolfert’s Website http://www.paula-wolfert.com/

Posted in book reviews, European Clay Cookware, european | No Comments »

Claypot Canela, Panela, Star Anise, Rum Sauce

December 3, 2009 by Nathalie Herling.

Claypot Canela, Panela, Rum Sauce

Claypot Canela, Panela, Rum Sauce Recipe

This recipe was inspired when I was given about 20 lbs of Colombian Panela!!! What a surprising ingredient to use for cooking sweets. Offers a complex rich almost Maple Syrup/Brown Sugar flavor. This recipe was tested to rave reviews at a Chamba Claypot food demonstration at the Newark, NJ Art Museum.

Nathalie Herling claypot cooking demonstration at the Newark Museum of Art Nov, 2009

The Newark Art Museum has a very choice collection and a fabulous Museum Shop full of very heartfelt quality items from around the world (Chamba Cookware available). For clay pottery lovers!!!! the musuem currently is featuring an inspiring exhibition thru Jan 1oth, 100 Masterpieces of Art Pottery, 1880-1930 http://www.newarkmuseum.org/ArtPottery.html .
Claypot Canela, Panela, Rum Sauce

Super easy and great to make in a claypot. I used a smallish oval chamba pot. You could use any shape medium clay pot… I found the Chamba pot cooked the liquid slowly to give this sauce a great texture that was even more intense the following day.

4 cakes of Panela, approx 16 ozs more is fine too (usally hard cakes of boiled down raw sugar cane, resembling brown sugar, Available in Latin,
Carribean and Indian grocery stores. Many different brands and names. Panela, piloncillo,…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panela)
2 Cups of Water
1 Cup of Dark Rum - I used a dark 4 year old, Nicaraguan Rum, Flor de Cana, Excellent and a great value http://www.flordecana.com/ A Delightful Rum to sip while you are cooking this sauce too!
4 sticks of Cinnamon. I prefer the turkish vs the mexican cinnamon since it stays hard in the sauce, not prone to flaking and easier to fish out of the finished syrup.
4 Full Stars of star of anise
Melt the panela with the water, cinammon, star anise and rum. Cook over low heat long enough to reduce the sauce to a nice syrup consistency. About twenty min to half an hour. Keep an eye on your cooking sauce and stir it from time to time to you get a consistance you would like to pour on pancakes. Test the sauce by taking a spoon full and pour it slowly back in the pot. If you like how it looks as a sauce then its ready. It will thicken slightly as it cools.
Pour on cake, cream puffs, ice cream, pancakes. A rich caramelly tasting sauce with a delightful taste.
This also a good sauce to mix or to pour on many other baking treats like cheese cake and pumpkin pie.The whipcream below is magical over Pies and Cakes.
For Creampuffs,
Make a classic Puff and fill with the following whipcream and drizzle the Claypot Canela, Panela Rum Sauce.
Panela, Canela, Rum Whipcream
2 Cups Whipping Cream
1/4 C of cooled Panela, Canela Rum Syrup above.
Mix the syrup into the cream. Whip until you have a nice glossy topping.

 A very memorable flavor.

Posted in desserts, latin, recipes, la chamba cookware | No Comments »

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