Happy Fall

It’s been another busy weekend!  Friday night I had help in the kitchen.  Michael helped me make one of my favorite dishes! Chicken Paprika with Spaetzle has been a favorite of mine since I can remember.  On birthdays or special occasions, I would ALWAYS request this dish.  The chicken is deliciously tender and the homemade spaetzle is a great, doughy alternative to noodles.  If you’ve never made them, I suggest snagging this recipe and using them in soups or in place of pasta.  I plan to use them in a pumpkin soup I'll be making next month.

Chicken Paprika with Homemade Spaetzle

Ingredients

For the Chicken

• 3 to 4 boneless chicken breasts, cut in half
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 chicken flavor bouillon cube
• ½ cup sour cream

For the Spaetzle

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup water
• 3 eggs
• ½ teaspoon salt 

Directions 

For the Chicken

1. Coat the chicken with flour; reserve the remaining flour
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the olive oil, then cook the chicken until browned on all sides (about 7 to 10 minutes) and remove from the skillet
3. Add the remaining flour and onions to the oiled skillet and cook, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes
4. Then stir in salt, paprika, pepper, water, and bouillon
5. Return the chicken to the skillet, cover, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 25 minutes or until the chicken is fork-tender, only turn once
6. Meanwhile, prepare the spaetzle (see below directions)
7. Once chicken is tender, remove to a large platter
8. Spoon out fat from pan and stir in the sour cream until blended
9. Add spaetzle to the sauce and serve with the chicken

Directions

For the Spaetzle

1. In a medium sized pot, bring to a boil 4 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of salt
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, ½ cup of water, 3 eggs, and ½ teaspoon of salt until smooth
3. Over boiling water with a spaetzle maker (or I just use 2 spoons – 1 spoon to scoop batter and 1 to push into the water) drop the spaetzle into the boiling water; making sure they aren’t too large (the size of a gumball)
4. Reduce heat to medium
5. Stir water gently so spaetzle doesn’t stick together
6. Boil for 5 minutes or until al dente and then drain

It was nice to have Michael's help making the spaetzle.  For my first attempt at this dish I was quite proud of my results - and so what Michael.  It was just as good as my mom always makes it!  The chicken was light and tender and Michael's spaetzle were cooked to perfection!  I'm defiantly going to be requesting his help more in the kitchen now!

On Saturday we were in NYC for the Yankee's game and a Dinner Cruise.  Unfortunately, we had to leave the game early to get to our dinner.  We left at the end of the 8th inning.  Little did we know the game would get so much more exciting with the Yankee's finally winning it 10-9 in extra innings.  The dinner cruise was a nice way to end the day.  Although the food was sub-par, the view made up for it! 

On Sunday we went over to my parents and I had a cooking lesson - Homemade Pasta Sauce.  That recipe will be coming soon once I make it myself!  While I was there I also whipped up an apple crisp for dessert.  I again used my mom's recipe because I love the version that she makes.  Most crisps have the oatmeal topping, but this topping is a mix of butter with flour and sugar! Absolutely amazing when baked! 

Apple Crisp

 Ingredients

• 5 cups peeled and diced apples (8 to 10) macoun apples
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ pound of cold butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Butter a 1 ½ quart baking dish
3. Once the apples are cut, place in a large bowl and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of sugar
4. Then place apples in baking dish
5. Evenly pour 1/3 cup of water on top of apples
6. Combine the flour, remaining sugar, remaining cinnamon, and salt in a bowl
7. Rub in the butter with your hands until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs
8. Spread crumbs evenly over the apples
9. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is browned
10. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream

Our spaghetti and meatballs was a great Sunday night dinner and my apple crisp was the icing on the cake! By the time I left, the whole crisp was also completely devoured.  What Michael and I took home was gone in 1 day, so I'd call that a success!

Now that the fall weather is creeping in,  I'm getting antsy to begin making all of these amazing fall recipes that I've accumulated.  I'll be starting tonight with chili and corn bread.