Anyway I found some fresh paprika, pretty cheap, never cooked with them before. Decided to make a sauce, it didn't turn out how I wanted it but it is a damn good pasta sauce.
PROTIP: For this recipe, cut the stuff you know will dissolve into whatever size you want. If you have a blitzer, you could just rough chop the whole lot and be fine.
Ingredients;
1 leek, finely sliced
3 fresh paprika(red capsicum/bell pepper might also work)
2-3 chillis(the big ones)
1 red onion, diced(I used a "large" one, about 350-400g)
50-60g butter
1 bunch spring onions, finely sliced
1 big jar of passata/tomato puree
Salt
Pepper
Turn oven to 200C or so. Get it hot, then chuck the paprika and chillis on a tray in the oven. Turn every 5 minutes or until each side is darkening. Bit of black isn't too bad. Chuck the chillis onto your chopping board when done, and the paprika into a bowl and cover with cling film. Remove the skin from both. I kept the seeds of the chillis, but you can remove them if you want. Slice both into 3-4mm strips, rough is ok. Turn oven off(nevar forget).
Chuck the butter into a pan, chop into 1-2cm cubes if you want. When the butter has started to soften, chuck in your leeks, onions, and spring onions. Cook and stir frequently(every minute or so, don't let them burn). Chuck in some salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a little bit longer then add the tomato puree and stir until bubbling. When it's bubbling, add the chillis and paprika. Turn the heat down and let it bubble away for 45mins at least. Add some more salt towards the end to adjust the flavour. I like it slightly tomato-y but not overpoweringly so.
If you're like me, you cook some stuff up the night before out of boredom and so chuck it in the fridge overnight. All pasta sauces taste better the next day.
Use it how you'd normally use it. This was my first chance to use paprika in anything and I thought it'd go good with some chicken. I cooked up some "chicken ribs"(scapula). I removed the skin and excess fat, cooked them in a tray for 30minutes before draining all of the juice, then added some salt to them and cooked for another 15-20 to dry them out a little.(turned oven down from 200 to 170 for this bit). Then chucked a few spoonfuls of the sauce over the top and cooked for another 10 minutes until it was bubbling.
To put it simply, I'd have paid for it. The chicken had a good flavour, the sauce was slightly sweet and combined well with the chicken. I might get some mince and make a lasagne with it, I think it will go better with some heavily browned mince and cheese. Fook yeah.
