Chicken Paprikash is practically Hungary's national dish, and while I've enjoyed it made with veal before I've never had a pork paprikash until I tried this great recipe from my friends over at Cooking Light Magazine. The traditional chicken version of this dish is a braise of whole chicken parts with the skin and on the bone, and delicious as it is, I have to say I really like CL's take on it calling for cubed pork tenderloin to be used instead. Not only does this version eliminate the fat of the chicken skin, but cubing the pork makes it so much easier to eat, and this dish is so tasty you're not going to want to be spending time cutting meat from bone when you could just be shoveling it straight in! You hear what I'm sayin'?
The dish has great balance, earthy with pork, rich with (reduced fat) sour cream, bright with the acidity of the wine and vinegar, and sweet from the tomato paste and sauteed onions. The hot paprika doesn't really bring heat it's more there for color, I added a touch of pimenton to mine (smoked paprika) for a little extra sumpin' sumpin'. Serve over wide egg noodles as called for in the recipe, or your favorite rice or grain. Make a lot, it reheats wonderfully! Enjoy.
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 6 ounces uncooked egg noodles
- 1 pound pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped green bell pepper (I used red bell because I don't like green)
- 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon hot paprika
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream
Instructions
- Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.
- Sprinkle pork with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil; swirl to coat. Add pork; cook 4 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove pork from pan. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining oil to pan, add onion, bell pepper, garlic, remaining salt and pepper; saute 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
- Add flour, tomato paste, thyme and paprika; saute 30 seconds. Add wine, cook 1 minute, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add stock and vinegar, and bring to a boil.
- Add pork, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until pork is tender. Remove pan from heat; stir in sour cream. Serve over noodles.