Port and Paprika Chicken Bites
by Kate Heyhoe
from Great Bar Food at Home
(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007)
Serves 4 bar bites

Portuguese and Spanish ingredients — port wine, paprika, cilantro, and olive oil — flavor this tapas-style dish. Set out cocktail picks, or toothpicks, for nibbling on these delicious little bites. To cook once and enjoy twice, double the recipe (omitting the cilantro) and freeze half. Then just thaw and reheat in a skillet, adding fresh cilantro before serving.

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1. Grind the garlic and bay leaves together in the work bowl of a hand blender or mini chopper (or chop the garlic by hand and finely crumble the bay leaves, then mix with the remaining ingredients). Add the port, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, the vinegar, paprika, and salt, then blend together until well mixed. Marinate the chicken in the mixture 1 to 2 hours.

2. Just before cooking, chop enough cilantro to make 1/2 cup. Spread the cilantro out on a serving plate.

3. To cook the chicken, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil on high in a wok or large skillet. With a slotted spoon, scoop the chicken pieces out of the marinade and into the hot oil, arranging them in a single layer. Cook until they brown on the bottom, 2 to 3 minutes, then stir-fry them until cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes more. Scoop the chicken bits out of the pan, leaving excess oil behind, and place them in a single layer on the bed of cilantro.

4. Add the onion to the hot pan, return the pan to the heat, and cook, stirring, until the onion is browned on the edges, about 2 minutes. Scoop the onion out of the oil and sprinkle on the chicken. Serve the plate of chicken bites hot or at room temperature, sprinkled with a touch of salt, and with cocktail picks or toothpicks for handling.