Chicken Paprika, and a story of how cooking makes friends

I work in senior housing. While helping a client with paperwork, the phone at my desk rang, here is that conversation.

Me: "Kenilworth Park Plaza, this is Melynda"
Caller:  "do you know how to make swiss steak?"
Me: "yes I do"
Caller: " I have some chuck steak, and I have a kitchen tool to pound it with"
Me: "you will want to cut the meat into 3 inch square pieces, because when you pound them, you will have a 5 inch square, then you can dip it into flour and brown it in a skillet, then proceed with the tomatoes and onions"
Caller: "it's a crockpot recipe"
Me: " you can brown it for extra flavor if you want, or you can follow the recipe, browning is always good"
Caller: "oh, ok, thanks"

With the call ended, my client said her goodbyes and stated she had to catch a bus, to run some errands.
I replied, that I needed to get home and get dinner started. At that point my client said, "it seems you have lots of help with dinner at home".

I chuckled a bit and said, "oh Grace, that was not someone calling from home, that was another tenant right here in the building". Grace thought that was pretty funny.

Chicken Paprika
adapted from: The best recipes in the world
by, Mark Bittman


Garlic salt and fresh black pepper to taste
1/4 c lemon juice
1 pound chicken breast meat, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

Sprinkle the meat with the lemon juice, garlic salt and pepper. Let sit while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1/2 c flour

Heat butter and oil in a large pan on medium heat. Drain excess lemon juice from chicken, toss meat in flour, shake off excess, place in a single layer in the pan.

oops!

Brown gently on medium low until golden, turn. Do not overcook. Remove to platter when cooked.

1 onion diced
1 T olive oil
1 T Hungarian Hot Paprika, or 2 T sweet paprika

After sauteing, I like to add a teaspoon of water, and steam for a moment to sweeten and soften.

Add oil to skillet, saute onion until tender. Sprinkle with paprika, toss to mix. Add chicken back to skillet, gently toss to coat with paprika..

 1 c sour cream
1/2 c chicken stock

Stir together until smooth, pour over chicken, mix gently to coat. Cover and cook on low for about 7 minutes to heat well, however do not let boil.

 Delicious! Serves 4 - 6

As always, thanks for stopping by.

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