June 17th: tandoori chicken wings

I don't often bother to try chicken wing recipes as I always conclude my recipe is better. This tandoori chicken wing recipe caught my eye though when I read it in the Ottawa Citizen. We concluded it was pretty tasty. It is prepped in advance, a bonus, and it is mildly spiced but quite flavourful. We're going to try it again. I'm linking the recipe, but don't know how long the Citizen keeps recipes online, so just in case, here it is:


Tandoori Chicken Wings with Mint-Cumin Yogurt Dip

For the yogurt

■ 1/2 cup (125 mL) thick plain yogurt

■ 2 tablespoons (30 mL) chopped fresh mint

■ 1 tablespoon (15 mL) lime juice

■ 2 teaspoons (10 mL) honey

■ Salt and white pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

For the wings

■ 3 tablespoons (45 mL) tandoori paste

■ 1/2 cup (125 mL) thick plain yogurt

■ 24 chicken wingettes or drumettes, or a mix of both

■ Lime slices for garnish

1. Place the tandoori paste and yogurt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the wings and toss to coat. Cover, refrigerate and marinate the wings for 4 hours.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 F (218 C). Arrange the wings on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cooked through. If desired, broil the wings for one or two minutes to crisp up the skin. Set the wings on a platter with the bowl of yogurt dip alongside. Garnish with the lime slices and serve.

Makes: 24 wings

December 21st-23rd: egg nog, mac & cheese, meatballs, wings

This is retrospective #2 on last week's "best of."


Egg Nog
This is a recipe I've had for a billion years, and it is so good, I must share. (No pic because white drink + white mug = bad photos. I need a new camera.) I made this Tuesday night and drank the leftovers Wednesday morning, re-heated.


1 egg yolk*
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups milk**
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
pinch nutmeg


In a saucepan, whisk sugar into egg yolk. Stir in remaining ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, till hot.


Makes 2 servings.


*perhaps you want to use the egg white to make Candied Pecans?
**the higher the milk fat percentage, the creamier the egg nog; I used 2%


Tangy Maple Meatballs
A keeper, and served at the Christmas Eve eve party. We had 4 meatballs leftover; don't know why. (No picture, oops, that's what happens when you're busy hosting.)


Meatballs
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1 egg, whisked
2 tbsp parsley, freshly chopped or dried, optional
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste


Sauce
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vinegar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup finely diced onion


Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine ground meats, egg, parsley, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Form into 1 1/2" balls. Place in 8" square pan. Bake for 20 minutes.


Meanwhile, combine cornstarch, dry mustard and remaining salt in a small saucepan. Gradually stir in vinegar, maple syrup, water and onion. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat.


Drain fat from meatballs and pour sauce over them. Return to oven and bake 20 minutes longer.


Makes 4 servings.


Beer & 5-Cheese Penne (AKA fancy mac & cheese)
This was a gamble, one of the recipes I made for the party without trying it out in advance. It involves gorgonzola, which had Greg worried, as he is not into blue cheese. It was, however, delicious. The blue cheese gets diluted by all the others involved. Definitely not your waist-friendly mac & cheese, but if you're cooking for a crowd, it's all good! (no pic again)


1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (125 mL) flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) amber beer
2 cups (500 mL) half and half cream
1/2 lb (225 g) brie (remove any rind)
16 oz (500 g) cream cheese
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 1/2 cups (625 mL) shredded Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) grated Parmesan cheese, divided
16 oz (500 g) penne pasta, cooked al dente and drained
salt (if necessary) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup (125 mL) panko or bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

In a medium, heavy-bottom pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour to form a light roux. Slowly whisk in the beer and half and half.

Add the brie and cream cheese to the sauce, stirring until the cheeses are melted and incorporated. Stir in the Gorgonzola, Cheddar and 1 cup (250 mL) Parmesan cheese.

Stir in the pasta, then taste and adjust the seasoning as desired with salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture into a 13 by 9 inch baking dish. Top the mixture by sprinkling over the remaining Parmesan cheese and panko crumbs. Place the dish in the oven and bake until the sauce is bubbly and the toppings are crisp and golden, about 1/2 an hour.

Cool slightly before serving. Makes 12-16 servings.

Frank's Red Hot Wings
The hit of the party, for sure. (These were made late in the night though, when opinions were not the most neutral. However, these really are the best wings I've ever made, and I've made many wings. We make these ones several times a year. Yum.) From the Frank's Red Hot website, with some modifications by moi. If you were to order these in a pub, I believe they would be classified as "medium" heat wings. (no pic)


1 lb split chicken wings, tips removed
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup Frank's original cayenne pepper sauce
1/3 cup salted butter, melted


Preheat oven to 500°F. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a large bag or bowl, and toss chicken wings to coat. Shake off any excess flour and place wings on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.*


Place in oven and reduce heat to 400°F. Bake 45 minutes, turning wings halfway.


Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine Frank's sauce and melted butter. When wings are cooked, toss in sauce and serve.


Sour cream optional. Napkins necessary.


*The more space the wings have between one another, the crispier they will cook up.

November 6th: artisan bread, fries and wings

Verdict:
Try Again: artisan bread, French fries, wings

Saturday!

Lunch: Even though Cooking With My Kid proclaimed this Artisan Bread was not difficult, she admitted to having doubts ahead of time. I too had my doubts about how easy this bread would be, and I too was wrong. It was dead simple. Easy peasy. I actually followed the original recipe, but might try the whole wheat version in future, or maybe a garlic or rosemary bread, mmm. The bread came out of the oven gorgeous and delicious. I would suggest letting it brown up a bit more than I did, as my loaf was a touch doughy in the centre. When making this, my dough didn't appear to rise much. I couldn't form the ball they talk about because the dough was too runny. But it still worked out in the long run, so I have to vouch for this recipe. One thing: if you eschew plastic wrap as I do, you might want to cover the bread with wax paper or something prior to letting it sit overnight. I didn't, and it ended up with a bit of a crust on it by morning, which is not what you want.  Olivia and I had this bread for lunch with meat, cheese and fruit, and we felt very Lord of the Ringsy. Maybe she didn't. I did.

Supper: I make home fries all the time. I don't usually bother with a recipe. Tonight, however, I wanted to try one I came across on Canadian Living.com and I'm so glad I did. From June 2008's Canadian Living: Crispy French Fries with Mustard Mayonnaise. These are easily the best fries I've ever made. I made them in the oven (rather than deep fryer) and I made the suggested accompaniment of mayo dip. The two together were like heaven in my mouth. I used three baking potatoes (2 lbs) to make these and G, O and I didn't leave a fry uneaten.

I screwed up the other recipe of the night, which is too bad, as I suspect it may be a good one. I found it on the Martha Stewart website; from March 2010's Everyday Food: Sticky Chicken Wings. I was overly focussed on making the fries and wasn't paying enough attention to the oven, and alas, I burnt the wings. I hadn't cooked the wings as suggested, but rather breaded the wings, baked them, boiled up the sauce separately, and tossed the cooked (burnt) wings in the sauce. This method should have worked well, had I been more on the ball.

September 9th: Caesars, Japanese noodle salad & wings

TGIT! After a three-day week, I needed some down time tonight. No, really. Break out the Caesars! Okay, do you really need a recipe for Caesars? Well, I've never actually made them, so I found it handy. From September 2010's Chatelaine: Classic spicy caesar. Shouldn't Caesar be capitalized? I don't know.* I went light on the vodka, heavy on the spice, and threw in some of my spicy asparagus and dilled green beans from September 5th. Yummy. A definite make again. Here they are, plus Olivia drinking her virigin Caesar. She didn't love it, but she did eat the lemon and the pickled veggies.

*According to Wikipedia, yes.

Next up, Japanese noodle salad. Also from Chatelaine, though the recipe is not online. Cook rice noodles, rinse till cold. Combine with shredded carrot and cucumber and sliced green onion. Top with dressing, a combination of white miso paste, lime juice, garlic and honey.

Very good. A light accompaniment to the grand finale: wings!

From September 2010's Chatelaine: Blue cheese chicken wings. Greg and I love wings. Greg has one stipulation when we make wings: no blue cheese! He can't even stand the smell when I dip mine in blue cheese dressing. Not that that stops me. So he was not keen on this recipe, which calls for dipping the raw wings in blue cheese dressing prior to deep frying. I persevered. He was pleasantly surprised. Somehow, the wings didn't have much flavour. (?) I don't own a deep fryer (nor do I want one!) and we usually do wings in the oven, so this was an experiment. I'm a little terrified of deep frying on the stove top, ever since Devin's house burned down when we were 12, but no such accidents tonight. Deep frying provides a moister, plumper wing than baking. Also, the cooking time is MUCH shorter. Felt a little dirty though, deep frying. Yum. Not sure if we'll try this one again or not.

Comments! Feedback! I've been getting some! Yay! Thanks for the support. Apparently Grandma wasn't sure why anyone would care what I'm cooking for supper (a thought I've had myself) but a few of you out there are interested, so I'll continue on. Fun for me anyway. :)