Baked Buffalo Style Chicken Wings

There are a lot of recipes out there for making chicken wings.  Most involve deep frying the wings, which can be rather messy.  We stumbled upon this approach to baking the wings and we were very pleased with the end result.  It takes a little time to make this recipe, but it is well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

- 20 chicken wings
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 cup hot pepper sauce (Tabasco, Frank's Red Hot, etc.)

Place a 6 quart sauce pan with a steamer basket and 1-2 inches of water on the bottom and over high heat, bring to a boil.  Place the wings in the steamer basket, reduce the heat to medium and steam the wings for 10 minutes.  Remove the wings from the steamer basket and pat dry with a paper towel.

Place the flour, garlic powder and cayenne pepper into a resealable plastic bag and mix.  Place the wings into the bag and toss the wings until they are well coated with the flour mixture.  Place the wings on a plate and refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat an oven to 425F.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with cooking spray.

While the oven is heating, whisk the melted butter and hot sauce in a bowl.  Take the wings out of the refrigerator and dip them into the butter sauce and then place the wings on the cookie sheet.

Cook the wings for 40 minutes, and turn the wings after they have cooked for 20 minutes so they cook evenly.

Cook's Notes:

The wings were crispy and delicious.  We think that refrigerating the wings once they have been coated with the flour mixture really helped the wings adhere the butter-hot sauce mix.

We adapted the original recipe a little.  In addition to the butter-hot sauce coating, and we bought a bottle of teriyaki sauce.  We poured a 4 ounces of the teriyaki sauce into a bowl and tossed 10 wings with the flour mixture on them into the sauce to coat the wings.  I think that you could take virtually any wing sauce you like to coat the wings.  

Update 12/24/2013 

We are making these for Christmas Eve dinner and using our favorite Buffalo Wild Wings sauces.  The flour is key! 

Merry Christmas! 

Tenderloin Deluxe

It's been a while since we have posted ... life is busy and we just haven't gotten around to posting the good things.

Every Christmas, Paul will make Tenderloin Deluxe.  It's one of my favorite recipes.  So we decided to practice last night, just so, you know, we would be prepared for the holiday.

3 lb beef tenderloin roast
2 tablespoons softened butter
1/4 cup chopped scallions
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Dash of ground black pepper
1 cup cooking sherry

The meat should be left out, covered, at room temperature for 2-3 hours before roasting.

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spread the tenderloin with the softened butter. Place the roast in a cast iron skillet and cook uncovered for 20 minutes.
3. While the roast is cooking, saute the scallions in the remaining butter until tender. Add the soy sauce, mustard and pepper. Stir in the sherry and heat until just boiling.
4. After the roast has cooked for 20 minutes, pour the sauce over the roast and cook to desired doneness (125F for rare).
5. Remove the roast at desired doneness and remove it from the oven.  Place the roast on a cutting board and cover loosely with aluminum foil.  Let the roast rest for about 10 minutes it before serving.
6. While the roast is resting, pour the sauce from the cast iron skillet into a small sauce pan.  Keep the sauce warm over low heat.
6. After the roast has rested, carve the roast into 1 inch slices, and spoon the sherry sauce over the meat.

Cook's Notes:
This is an incredibly easy dish to make, but it has an incredibly elegant taste.  The real key to success in the recipe is to not over cook the roast.  Once you use a remote sensing thermometer to cook a roast, you will wonder how you ever cooked without one!







Is it good?  Oh yeah.

shrimp on the barbie

This recipe was adapted from several including our own, All Recipes, and a host of others.  Our shrimp comes wrapped in newspaper.



Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

1.  In a 1 gallon plastic food storage bag, add the olive oil and the shrimp.  Toss the shrimp to coat in olive oil.
2.  Combine the paprika, garlic powder, pressed garlic, black pepper and Italian seasoning in a bowl and mix well.  It will look like this.



3.  Pour the seasoning mixture into the bag containing the shrimp and the olive oil.  Mix the shrimp and the seasoning well.



4.  Place the shrimp into your refrigerator and allow to marinate for 3-4 hours.
5.  Skewer the shrimp and when the grill is ready, place the shrimp on the grill. Cook the shrimp for 6-7 minutes, turning once.

Remove the shrimp from the grill and serve immediately.  I never have pictures of the done product.  It's too good to sit around taking pictures.  

Cheers!

scallops and beans and corn, oh my!

I was flying solo this weekend and was on the fence about dinner.  I had scallops in the freezer, along with green beans and corn.  I didn't quite know what to do with them.  But they looked delicious.  So I let them defrost and started planning.






I decided to do very little with the scallops other than a sear; I found the recipe on the Food Network website AND I followed the directions.  Some of the comments mentioned the pepper and they were right - the pepper gave the scallops a really amazing taste.  Highly recommended. 

The green beans and corn, I did something completely different.  I dried the beans and put a little olive oil in a pan.  I cooked the beans until the started to cook through, then I added the corn.  Everything had a nice hue, having cooked through (probably 8 minutes on the beans, 3-4 with the corn).  I topped with a little feta cheese and covered.  The cheese melted and when served, I sprinkled the concoction with toasted pine nuts. 

Exquisite.  I would totally make this again.  Served with a vintage Lion's Lair.  Excellent Saturday night!

on the grill

We have been grilling all week at the cottage.  We tried a new way to cook potatoes - on the grill in aluminum foil. Many of my foodie friends may disown us but let me just say, it was fantastic.

Ingredients

Red skin potatoes, scrubbed and dried.  Then quartered.
Mickey and T's All American
Olive Oil
Garlic
Chopped onions 
Any herb - we had oregano on hand and threw it on. You could use anything - dill, rosemary, basil, etc.



Cook's notes - spray the aluminum foil with a non-stick cooking spray - we have an olive oil brand that we used.   Wrap up tightly, leaving a little room for the steam.  I didn't have heavy duty aluminum foil, so I wrapped them three times. 

About 25 - 30 minutes, depending on how hot your grill runs.  We used this method with our asparagus as well.  It was fantastic.



Served with a porter house steak and this wine, the meal was a home run!

Peppery Flank Steak

Much to my surprise, we have never posted our Peppery Flank Steak recipe in the Cafe.  We are making this tonight as the turf part of our Surf & Turf meal. Here is the recipe:

Peppery Flank Steak

Ingredients:

- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

- grated zest of one lime

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

- ¼ teaspoon chili oil or Tabasco Sauce

- 1/2 cup (4 oz.) dry red wine

- 1/4 cup (2 oz.) olive oil

- 1 tablespoon sugar

- 2 tablespoons soy sauce

- 1.5 lb flank steak

  In a small bowl stir together the lime juice, lime zest, garlic, red pepper flakes, chili oil, wine, sugar and soy sauce.  Place the meat in a shallow glass bowl (or a zip-lok bag) and pour the mixture over steak.  Marinate for at least 2 hours (all day is better), turning occasionally and basting with the marinade.

  Prepare a fire in your grill.  Remove the steak from the marinade and pat dry with absorbent paper towels, reserving the marinade.  Place the steak on the grill.  Cook for 10-12 minutes, turning once and brushing two or three times with the reserved marinade.  The meat should be on the rare side.

  Remove from the grill when done and loosely cover the steak with foil for 10 minutes to allow the meat to rest.  To serve, carve on the diagonal into thin slices.

Cook's notes:  We tend to put more lime juice and pepper flakes into this recipe when we make it.  We also try to marinate the flank steak for 6-8 hours.  Serve with a hearty red wine.  

slow cooker ham and stuffs

The recipe below was supposed to be cooked in the oven.  I don't like using the oven when I can use the crockpot.  So I have improvised.  I can improvise because Paul is returning from a trip and isn't here to boss me around. ;)

It is a little scary for me to be in the kitchen.  I don't like to follow directions and I don't like to measure.  Don't ask.  I like to "see" how much stuff the recipe calls for.  And then I decide in the moment. This is not a recipe for a career as an executive chef.

This sometimes works to my advantage.  Sometimes we go out for dinner.  

    Cooked ham with bones: 10-12 pounds (uncooked and way less in size)
    Garlic cloves: 8, peeled and cut into thin strips - I used 8 cloves.  Keeps the vampires away. 
    Rosemary sprigs: 8  - I used way more.  I love rosemary
    Dark brown sugar: 1/2 cup - I used Splenda brown sugar and did measure. 
    Dijon mustard 1/2 cup
    Apple juice or other liquid: 2 cups  - I used water.  

The recipe says this:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Peel the skin from the ham and trim the fat, leaving a 1/4-inch layer.
3. Using the tip of a sharp knife, score the fat in a diamond pattern.
4. Insert the sliced garlic and rosemary sprigs into the scores on the ham.
5. Mix the sugar and mustard together and brush on the ham.
6. Place in a shallow roasting pan, add the liquid to the pan, and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 140 to 150°F.

I did this:
1. Mixed/chopped the garlic and rosemary in our chopper.
2. Scored the ham and inserted the garlic rosemary blend.




3. Mixed the brown sugar and mustard.
4. Put the ham in the crock-pot. 
5. Poured the sugar mustard blend over the ham. 
6. Added 1/2 cup of water (in the measuring cup with the mustard - why waste good mustard?)



Cooking in the crockpot for 9 hours - 1 hour on high, 8 on low.  I will add liquid if needed.  It normally isn't needed.

At the very least, I have good pictures.  Crossed fingers.  :)

Adapted from Katie Brown Entertains.