Zsa Zsa Gabor’s Paprika Chicken

In haste… Holidays are coming… Life is getting a little crazy…

In this busy pre-Christmas period I was determined to catch up with Battenburg Belle and suggested that I cook a tribute dish for Zsa Zsa, who went to the Hollywood in the sky this week.  I’ve got a soft spot for Zsa Zsa as whenever she is mentioned, I always think of the happy day in 2007 when I moved in with Gaby and Lucy and made Zsa Zsa’s Hungarian Chicken with Dumplings.

So last night I rustled up Zsa Zsa’s Hungarian Chicken WITHOUT Dumplings (none specified in this recipe) and very nice it was too.  I’d read the following in another Zsa Zsa recipe: “you must use Hungarian paprika or don’t bother making this dish.” so I took along my beloved sweet paprika, bought in Budapest.  Zsa Zsa must be obeyed…

As there was just two of us, I scaled the recipe down to about half.  I used 500g chicken (which was enough for 3 people really), a small onion, half a green pepper, a tablespoon of lard (yes, lard.  When Zsa Zsa says lard, she means lard), half a teaspoon of paprika and two teaspoons of sour cream.We thought our chicken was done and ready in about 45 minutes, an hour seemed a long time to wait for our chook.  This photo is pre-sour cream stage…

Battenburg Belle fried up some smashed potatoes and made me my favourite side dish “Peas in the French Style”.  You will see from this photo that BB is from the Julia Child school of cooking when it comes to butter.

I forgot all about asking BB to serve this up on her “best gold or silver plates” as Zsa Zsa specified, and as far as I know, there is no chamber pot at the nunnery…

All in all, a very lovely dinner.  Quick to make and easy, a good work night dish.  Thanks Zsa Zsa and have fun up there in Hollywood heaven with all of your ex-husbands…

Wishing you all a wonderful festive season with much lovely eating and drinking xx