Camper's Paprikash

1 large 2-4 pound fryer chicken
1 cup Crimini or white mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped into slices/wedges
1/3 cup best quality paprika
dash parsley
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 large can chicken broth
small carton sour cream
wide egg noodles
flour
oil

Cut chicken into pieces as uniform as possible (I cut breasts into quarters, not halves). Wash chicken pieces, pat dry, dredge in flour, and season with salt and pepper. Warm Dutch oven over coals and add small amount of olive oil, enough to cover bottom of pan with a scant 1/2 inch of oil. Brown fryer pieces when oil is heated, crisping all sides. Remove to platter or piece of foil. Add mushrooms and sweet onion (I prefer Walla Walla or Vidalia) to the Dutch oven, browning mushrooms and cooking onions until soft. Be sure not to burn onions. Some people like to add some sliced carrot (perhaps 1/3 cup) to the dish. The carrots should be cooked with the rest of the veggies now.

When onions are soft and mushrooms are crisp on the edges, add the paprika. This should be enough to coat the onion and mushrooms well. Return the chicken to the Dutch oven and stir to coat well. Add the entire can of broth, which should come close to covering the fryer parts and vegetables. Add a dash of parsley and a teaspoon of dill weed, adjusting to taste. Simmer over fire for another 90 minutes, occasionally stirring and turning the Dutch oven to avoid hot spots, until chicken is well done.

15 minutes prior to dinner, boil noodles in salted water until al dente. Drain and keep warm.

Take 2 tablespoons of flour and mix in a small bowl with the carton of sour cream until well incorporated. Remove chicken parts to platter. Spoon about a cup of liquid from the pot into the sour cream and flour and work in until thinned. Add a second cup of oven liquid, making sure no lumps are in the mixture. Add at once to the Dutch oven, cooking over low heat until the mixture thickens into "paprikash" gravy.

To serve, spoon noodles onto large bowls or plates. Ladle "paprikash" gravy onto noodles, place chicken parts atop, and finish off with another ladle full of gravy.

Servings: 4-5