mealsforfriends

I admit it, I’m a wing snob.   I’ve become so picky about them over the last few years I can hardly stand to order them at a restaurant or wing place.  Everyone has their favorite style, but  I like mine crispy and not smothered in red sauce.  Here’s my recipe!

By the way, remember my New Year’s Resolution to have one small dinner party a month?   I’m counting our Superbowl Party with friends and wings and gumbo and black and gold cupcakes for February as a small (and extremely LOUD!) dinner party.

YUMMY, CRISPY CHICKEN WINGS

Ingredients

20-25 pieces of chicken wings and drummettes (approx 5 lbs)

4 tablespoons coarse kosher salt

2 tablespoons Asian hot chili sauce (Sriracha) – you can use more but add it a little at a time until it’s hot enough for your taste

4 tablespoons honey

4 tablespoons butter, melted

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

4 cups canola oil

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Place thawed chicken pieces on a couple of large baking sheets in a single layer.   Sprinkle with kosher salt, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.

When ready to cook, remove from refrigerator and pat completely dry with paper towels, removing most of the salt.   Let the chicken set at room temperature for 15-30 mins.

Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter.  Add the chili sauce, honey, soy sauce and cilantro.  Taste to check the heat level and adjust by adding more chili sauce or, if the sauce is too hot, add more honey.   Set sauce aside.

Place the cooking oil in a large dutch oven fitted with a thermometer or in a fry daddy type of cooker.  Heat oil to 275 degrees.   Divide the chicken into 4 batches.   Fry one batch at a time for 10 minutes then transfer to a clean plate or baking sheet when done.  Once all the chicken is done, increase the heat to 375 degrees.

Again, working in four batches, fry the chicken for 10 more minutes.   Transfer to a paper towel lined clean baking sheet.  The skin should be brown and crunchy using this double-fry method.   Sprinkle with salt and pepper and transfer the chicken to a large bowl.   Pour the chili sauce mixture over it and toss to thoroughly coat.   Transfer to a serving platter and dig in!!!

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!   I promise to actually take pictures next time I make them (which will be soon!!)

I am so excited that I have been added to the official Foodie BlogRoll. You’ll see the widget over there on the right sidebar. I am now addicted to looking at each and every blog listed in each day’s featured blogs. Of course this takes up WAY too much time but I can’t help myself! Take a look at some of them for great recipes…..and be sure to always come back to MY blog to see what I’m up to…..

happy cooking (and eating!)

“When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone.  Whether we know it or not, none of us is.  We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten.  Food is never just food.  It’s also a way of getting at something else:  who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.”

- Molly Wizenberg, from A Homemade Life

I keep reading that January 17th is the day most people give up on their New Year’s Resolutions.   I’m not giving up yet, so read on!

Resolution #1:   Have more small dinner parties.   I’m right on track with this one – last night we had two couples over for an evening of great food, wine and friendship.   It took a lot of energy to prepare the meal, but everyone raved about the food so it was worth it.   Thank goodness for my awesome husband – the best house cleaner, dish washer and general kitchen helper in the world!   The menu was:   bruschetta with wild mushroom saute, butternut-leek soup, pork loin wrapped in bacon with dijon/rosemary glaze, shrimp and crab stuffed baked potatoes, balsamic roasted asparagus wrapped with proscuitto and focaccia bread.   I promise to post recipes soon!

Resolution #2:  Organize my pantry.   I’m doing really good on this one, but it’s always a work in progress.   You’ll have to take my word for how bad it was before.   And now I can actually find what I’m looking for!   And I’m going to keep it organized, I promise….

So much easier to find stuff now!

Resolution #3:  Serve one vegetarian meal a week to my family.   This one is working out very well so far…..I’ve made a veggie frittata and an eggplant parmesan casserole.   The family declared both of them to be “keepers”!   I’ll post recipes soon.  I’m having a lot of fun researching great vegetarian entree’ ideas…if you have any favorites be sure to let me know!

Resolution #4:  Enter my favorite recipes into an online recipe software program. So far I’m not doing that great with this one.   However, after spending way too much time looking for a recipe for chicken wing sauce that is written on a piece of paper somewhere in my office this very evening, I have a renewed drive to get it done!

Resolution #5:   More visits to the local Farmer’s Markets.  I thought I was going to have to wait until Spring for this one but I just found out there are going to be indoors Winter Farmer’s Markets starting next Saturday!   Can’t wait to go and see what they have…..

That’s the update…..thanks for checking out my blog and I will post recipes this week!

Hello Friends – I unintentionally just took an entire month or more away from my blogging. It seems like every year from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day I get way too over-busy with cooking and decorating and friends and family and parties….you know how it goes. Almost everyone I know does the exact same thing!  Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday month and enjoyed all the hub-bub just like I did!

Now that all the busy-ness is over it’s time to turn my attention to my Foodie New Year’s Resolutions – there is always room for change and that’s what the new year brings.  So here goes:

• Have more small dinner parties with friends.  In the past we have always hosted large parties which are fun but are a lot of work to put together and leave me very little time to actually relax and enjoy my food and guests.   So – one small dinner party (4-6 people) a month is my goal
• Work on pantry organization.   I’d post a picture of the current pitiful state of my pantry but you would be shocked and appalled at the mess….I can’t find a darn thing in there right now!   So – I am going to get everything out and sort, pitch, organize and get it under control, one shelf at a time or whatever it takes.
• Serve one vegetarian meal a week to my family.    My daughter and I are all in favor but I have to convince my dear hubby that it will not kill him to go meatless once a week….seriously!  So – I will find some delicious vegetarian recipes to add to my repertoire that will satisfy the entire family.
• Organize my favorite recipes into a software program (MasterCook) on my computer.   I have so many favorites recipes and such a huge collection to look through that it becomes frustrating to find what I’m looking for when planning my weekly menus.  So – continue to enter the recipes (I have only FOUR in my computer program right now) so I can access them easily when needed.
• Make weekly trips to the local Farmers Market when the season starts (here in Colorado that would be May) and get to know the local growers.  I did this last year but not on a consistent basis.  So – Tuesdays between 11 am and 3 pm, take my reusable shopping bags and head to the market.  AND plan my weekly menus around the fresh produce I find there.

Whew….If I can just accomplish those goals I’ll feel a lot better about the 2010 foodie year!   Of course I will keep you all updated by blogging about how I’m doing each week.

Finally I’d like to thank all of you who visited my site these past few months….as always, feel free to leave a comment or ask a question any time.

Cheers and Best Wishes for a Wonderful 2010!!