kittyloaf

smoked paprika

i never really knew what paprika was and i never really thought it had much flavor.  my only experience with it had been when my mom sprinkled the top of potato salad with it when i was growing up and to me i couldn’t taste a thing.  then came my obsession with rachael ray recipes and she uses paprika alot… and not just regular paprika but SMOKED paprika.  wtf was my first thought when i came across that in a recipe.  i figured i could just omit it because it had no flavor anyways but  i decided to picked some up at the grocery store (so expensive! why are spices so expensive!) and have been using it alot ever since.  the smoked paprika gives the dish (obviously) a very smokey taste and it’s delicious!  my first use of it was in a black bean chorizo soup (heavy smokey taste), and second was in this chicken quinoa dish i made for dinner last night.  the recipe is very easy and it is super delicious.  the smoked paprika in this recipe gives it a mild smokey taste that is not overpowering.  do not be intimidated by the large list of ingredients because the outcome is worth it.

Middle Eastern Chicken Pot & Butter-nut Quinoa

• 3 chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, grated or chopped (omitted on my part for pant shitting reasons)
• 1 cup shredded carrots (fuck do I hate shredding carrots and my grocery store refuses to stock pre-shredded ones for my convenience! A tip I do have is after you have shredded the carrots, roll them up in a tea towel (or paper towels) and squeeze all the water out of them otherwise they turn into a sticky clumpy mess when added to the dish)
• 1 fresh bay leaf (or dried)
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup chopped dried fruits (I can’t remember what I used… they’re small raisins… I also used 1 cup because I enjoy the sweetness)
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 3/4 cup black olives (sliced)
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/4 cup slivered or sliced almonds
• 1 cup quinoa

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil ripples add the chicken and brown. Add the onions, garlic, carrots, bay leaf and season with spices, salt and pepper, cook 5-6 minutes. Stir the fruits into the chicken and vegetables, add the zest of the lemon, olives and 2 cups of stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes more. Sprinkle with lemon juice and turn off heat. Remove bay leaf.

While chicken simmers, melt butter in a sauce pot over medium heat. Add nuts and lightly toast for a couple of minutes. Add 2 cups stock and bring up to a boil then stir in quinoa. Cook for 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

Serve chicken over quinoa.