Tuesday, January 26, 2010

I've been up to.....

It's been a month since I last posted. After the recovery from surgery I went back to work and have been working a challenging schedule. I started working on a new lap quilt for me. I usually make quilts to give away but I decided to be selfish. Like many quilters I have a stash of fabrics and items I picked up here and there. One of the items in my stash is a quilt kit. The kit is in the Jacob's ladder pattern and is done in 48 squares. The fabric in the quilt is Wyndham reproduction of fabric from the 1870's. The colors are beige and pale roses, dark reds, browns and grayed greens. I've wanted to make a Jacob's ladder quilt for a long time and when I saw the kit it was like a voice saying sew me. Well not quite but it certainly beckoned to me.

One of the pleasures of quilting is my new Viking Quilting machine that makes sewing easier. It's very quiet and is so accurate and easy to use. I have my machine set up so I can watch football or movies while I quilt. Another pleasure is pairing fabrics to make a light square and a dark square out of each pair of fabrics. It takes a while to really look and see what goes with what given the variety of patterns. I try to keep things complementary and watch how "busy" the paired fabrics are. Part of the square is two fabrics cut into two squares each and sewn together to make a larger square. I do chain piecing for this step and when I sew the squares in a long chain they form a line that reminds me of Tibetan prayer flags. Well they are quilter's prayer flags.

It's been so cold and snowy I've been making foods that are braised in a sauce and served with a starch and a vegetable. Today I chose a recipe for chicken paprikash from the Saveur magazine. My aunt is a world traveler. On her last trip abroad she brought me a trio of Hungarian paprikas. I used the sweet paprika for this recipe and made homemade dumplings tossed in butter and parsley and carrots as the sides. Leftovers are always available when you cook for two so reheating chicken paprikash brings out even more developing flavors. I've missed blogging but have been too busy with work and other duties and hope this recipe will elicit some forgiveness from those who have missed these posts.

Chicken Paprikash

1 cut up chicken skin removed
1/2 C flour
pepper to taste
1/4 C canola oil
2 T sweet paprika
2 large tomatoes peeled, cored and seeded
1 large yellow onion chopped
1 Italian frying pepper chopped
1 1/2 C chicken broth
3/4 C sour cream
2 T flour

Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Season the flour with pepper and dredge the chicken. Place the chicken in the dutch oven and brown turning once. Remove the chicken and set aside. Add the paprika, onions, peppers and tomatoes and cook 5 minutes until the onion is transparent. Place the chicken back in the dutch oven and add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and let simmer until tender about 20 minutes. In a small bowl mix the flour and sour cream together. Add 3/4 C of sauce from the pan and stir well to combine thoroughly. Add the sour cream mixture back into the dutch oven and stir gently to combine well. Serve the paprikash hot over noodles or spaetzle.

1 comment:

  1. I may have to try this one. I have a woman who I work with who LOVES this recipe. The one I do does not include tomato. Glad to see you back and when your quilt is complete...photo on fb, please.

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