My good friend Matt Piedl and I have enjoyed many culinary adventures together. His most recent idea was Czech food. Recalling the tasty albeit monochromatic fare I sampled on my visit to the Czech Republic, I agreed enthusiastically. I remembered some sort of roast pork, some yummy squishy dumplings with brown gravy, sauerkraut and potatoes. That was what I was served at a rustic lodge after spelunking in the caves of the "Bohemian Paradise" mountains. It is known as their "national dish". (Do we have one of those? Cheeseburgers perhaps?)
Alas, we failed to plan ahead and an hour before dinnertime we had yet to so much as go grocery shopping, our tummies were grumbling, and we came to the crushing realization that the pork was supposed to marinate for a minimum of 48 hours. Forget that!
So instead we opted for a dish Matt remembered from his childhood dinners prepared by his authentic Hungarian grandmother! Chicken paprikash! We purchased a whole bird, which he portioned with my poultry shears, muttering "choppin' birds, choppin' birds" all the while. He dumped the butchered fowl into my huge dutch oven along with heaps of onions and generous spoonfuls of lard and paprika. Meanwhile, I sliced up a head of green cabbage, blanched it, fried up some bacon, sauteed celery, carrots, onions and bell peppers in the fat, then stirred in the blanched cabbage and the chopped bacon and topped it off with a glug of white vinegar and a sprinkle of s&p. Matt whipped up a simple noodle batter - just eggs, flour, and water - and dropped spoonfuls of it into boiling water to make spetzel. When everything was just about ready, he finished the chicken with a stream of heavy cream, which mixed with the chicken juices and brought the dish together beautifully.
Seemed like a perfect Sunday dinner!
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