Dining in the Dark

Maybe you heard about the natural disasters that were affecting the entire country this week. It's unbelievable how so much can happen in a week in areas so vastly disparate. While not nearly on the scale of hurricanes and floodings, here in San Diego we experienced our own "state of emergency" on Thursday.

I was about to leave for a doctor's appointment when all of the lights went out. Now, growing up on the East Coast, I'm kind of used to summer brown-outs/black-outs and it has been abnormally hot this week. So I thought nothing of it except "Man, it's really not that hot. San Diego really needs to get over itself."

I drove to my appointment thinking the lights would be on any minute. They didn't come back on. Every street lamp was out. Every shopping center I passed was out. I got to the doctor's office - lights out there too. Luckily as the nurse pointed out, "pregnant women don't really need electricity for their appointments." So I still got my blood pressure taken, my belly measured, and the baby's heartbeat checked. AND I got tested for Group B Strep. Even without lights!

We got home, still no power. Plans for dinner were scrapped since I knew not to open the fridge or freezer. BUT you don't need power for pasta! So we had a super simple dinner of linguini tossed with garlic, truffle oil, and tomatoes and ate by candle light. I also chopped up a cantaloupe for dessert. Nothing gourmet by any means, but we sure know how to make the best of a bad situation! We spent the evening putting finishing touches on the nursery, reading, and playing card games. As soon as it cooled down enough, Thatboy opened all the windows and screen doors.

In the middle of the night, the power came back on. All was right with the world again.

This is obviously not the pasta I made. This is what I would have made if I could open the fridge to pull out chicken, cream, sour cream, butter, and chicken broth. It's infinitely more impressive than pasta with oil.

Hungarian Chicken
1 chicken, quartered
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 onion, chopped
salt
2 Tbsp paprika
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
cooked egg noodles

1. Melt butter in a pan and cook onion until they are translucent.
2. Add the chicken and salt and brown chicken on all sides.
3. Remove chicken from pan. Add paprika to pan and cook for a minute.
   
4. Add in the tomato and half of the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Cook for 7 minutes
5. Return chicken to the pan, cover, and simmer 35 minutes.
6. Take the chicken out again and sprinkle flour over everything remaining in pan. Stir for about 3 minutes until it begins to thicken a bit.
7. Add the rest of the chicken broth and the heavy cream and cook until heated through.
8. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in sour cream.
9. Place chicken on the noodles and spoon the sauce over.