1 pound new potatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons sour cream
salt and pepper
water

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the potatoes, cooking until just fork tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Sauté the onions until tender, then add the paprika, chicken stock and tomato.
3. Drain the potatoes and add them to the skillet. Reduce heat and simmer until the sauce has thickened.
4. Remove the skillet from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the sour cream. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings

1 whole chicken
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
6 cloves garlic, halved
2 small onions, quartered
water

1. Combine salt, paprika, thyme, white and black pepper together.
2. Rub chicken, inside and out, generously with the spice mixture. Stuff onions into the cavity and garlic cloves under the skin covering the breast. Wrap in a bag and refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
4. Transfer chicken to a roasting pan with a few tablespoons of water. Roast, basting every 45 minutes or so, until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Allow meat to rest before carving.

Makes 1 chicken

It's time to sample some of the Hungarian paprika that Simon brought me back from Vancouver. Mushrooms, meat and potatoes seem to be the common pairings with paprika, so I figured I'd try out something like that. I'll have to wait until after the year is over to recreate the Mushroom Paprikash and give it a fair shot.

My main dish was Roast Paprika Chicken. The paprika sort of worked in conjunction with the garlic and pepper, rather than being the star of the show. Still, I did find it noticeable. Shoving garlic cloves under the skin really infused the meat with a roasted garlic flavor. Shoving onions into its cavity didn't hurt either. I really wish I had a rotisserie, because I think that would've made this even better, assuming the onions didn't fall out and catch fire.

To showcase the flavor of paprika, I made Paprika Potatoes, which was basically paprika, sour cream and potatoes. I thought this was delicious, and definitely helped determine the difference between Hungarian paprika and whatever bland powder I normally ended up with. "Real" paprika is kind of smoky and spicy, especially compared to the typical store bought stuff, which is more like unnoticeably flavored red chalk. I'm not sure the difference is so extreme that paprika is going to go from ho-hum spice rack filler to one of my favorites, but I can definitely see it as being a worthwhile addition now. Perhaps more experimenting will change my tone on that altogether. I added a simple green salad to the plate for a bit of color contrast and because the crisp greens and vinegar helped to cleanse my palette between the 2 paprika flavors. Plus, more vegetables.