Buffalo Chicken Wings, A Recipe That Lives Up To Its Name

It's true! Chef Dennis' Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe really does live up to its name, "The Best Buffalo Chicken Wings You'll Ever Have". And they were so fun to make, especially while the kids hovered waiting to get their little fingers on them.

The Dressing

I started with the dressing which should be made a day ahead, at least, to build the flavors.  That means it should have been made on Saturday, but I forgot. So I made it early on Sunday. Fortunately, it tasted great by Sunday night and very fresh. 

Making homemade bleu cheese dressing was a real treat. I never made it from scratch and enjoyed having control over the ingredients. I bought all organic goodies.

Bleu Cheese Dressing

8 oz bleu cheese

1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

1/4 cup milk or buttermilk

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 ts granulated onions (my jar says onion granules)

1/2 ts salt (I omitted)

1/4 ts pepper

In a food processor, pulse half the bleu cheese, all the sour cream/yogurt, and milk/buttermilk.  Add to the mayonnaise. Add granulated onions, salt and pepper to taste and mix in rest of crumbled bleu cheese. 

And taste.

There was a lot of delicious dressing so I jarred some for my friend to also enjoy that night.

Wings and Sauce

Wings

To prepare and cook the chicken wings: rinse, pat dry, and trim (separate at joints and remove tips). Then dredge in flour that's seasoned with salt (I used just a little) and pepper. Cook them in about one inch of oil until brown on both sides (work with small, manageable batches).  I used organic canola oil and medium-high heat. Drain.

   

    

Half way through cooking the wings, I started the sauce.

Buffalo Wing Sauce

12 oz Frank's Hot Wing Sauce (I couldn't find Frank's so I used "bella's" instead)

1 1/2 sticks butter

4 oz honey

Combine all ingredients, cook on medium-low heat, keep warm and don't boil or ingredients will separate.

When combined, we poured the finger-licking sauce over the wings:

Before adding the wings to the platter, we gave the dressing one last taste. By the way my kids fought over it, you'd think this was the first time we had homemade bleu cheese dressing. Oh, right, it was!

Then serve 'em up!

For more detailed instructions and to print a copy of this recipe, please go to:  http://www.morethanamountfull.com/2011/02/best-buffalo-chicken-wings-youll-ever.html

Rustic Roasted Garnet Yam with Steak Tips and Mushrooms

I don't have much to say about this meal except that it was delicious and it represents the goodness of whole foods. In this cast of ingredients, the gorgeous garnet yam was the star, and the ensemble, brilliant!  

This meal started with these rustic, nutritious, organic garnet yams.

I roasted them whole in the oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour. They smelled fantastic!

While they roasted, I sauteed these beautiful baby bella mushrooms with butter, olive oil and Herbes de Provence.

I seasoned steak tips lightly with salt and pepper and sauteed them in a hot pan with olive oil and a little butter until medium rare/medium. 

And, in the end, I was very happy with this tasty rustic meal.

Hearts of Palm Salad and My Conscience

What are hearts of palm anyway? I never see anything in cooking magazines or my cookbooks about them. Well, maybe I just haven't noticed. My curiosity got the best of me and I finally bought a can the other day. This salad seemed the simplest way to taste and present them to my family. But writing about them was not so simple.

While writing this post I researched hearts of palm and got upset when I read that harvesting them is bad for the environment. When harvested, the palm tree dies (i.e., unsustainable) and demand has led to poaching and deforestation of the rainforest in South America. (Hmmm, is this why I never see recipes with them?) After further research, I learned they are now mostly harvested from agricultural farms and usually from the peach palm  (which doesn't die because it has multiple shoots to harvest from) or other domesticated species. However, the World Rainforest Movement claims (April 2000) the growing cultivation of Palmetto palms to be a threat to Equador's biodiversity. Hawaii is now home to a large sustainable farm using the peach palm.  

I have to admit that unless I am positive the hearts of palm I'm buying are sustainable, I'll probably avoid them. I could drive myself crazy wondering where my food comes from, but I think it's important to be aware. I bought my hearts of palm from Whole Foods and I hope they are buying from companies who are buying from sustainable farms. 

Historical Tidbit

Hearts of palm in Florida were originally called swamp cabbage because it was a staple of the poor then changed to millionaires' salad when it became a popular delicacy among chefs.  Harvesting is now restricted, http://www.soupsong.com/fheartso.html.  

Hearts of Palm and Black Olive Salad

1 can hearts of palm, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs white wine vinegar

1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

          

1 can black olives, or other favorite olive

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 ts dried Italian spices

Romaine lettuce, rinsed and trimmed

Pepper to taste

The key is to not over season their delicate flavor.  

Slice hearts of palm into discs, marinate with extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, parsley, I omitted salt because they were already salty, add pepper to taste and refrigerate at least 1 hour, can marinate overnight (not slicing too thin and being gentle so as to not dislodge or mush the delicate meat in the middle):

Roughly chop black olives (or, if you like, substitute green olives).  I used canned black olives instead of calamata or other olive because I wanted to keep sodium levels low.  Santa Barbara Olives have lower sodium than most.  Drizzle with oil olive, about one tablespoon, season with Italian spices, about 1 teaspoon.  Refrigerate also (separate from hearts of palm).

When the rest of your meal is ready, put all ingredients together, drizzle remaining dressing over lettuce  and enjoy with your family. 

Nutritional information:  very good source of fiber, vitamin C, folate, calcium and other minerals, and a good source of protein, riboflavin and potassium.  

Source:

My inspiration for this salad came from, http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/hearts-of-palm-salad/Detail.aspx

• 3 (14.25 oz) cans hearts of palm, drained and sliced
• 2 (7 oz) packages dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
• 1/2 cup white wine or champagne vinegar
• 6 tbs water
• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 8 oz jar green olives, sliced
• 1 6 oz can sliced black olives
• 2 tbs bacon bits

1. Whisk dressing mix, vinegar, and water together until well blended. Whisk in olive oil. Add hearts of palm and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight.
2. Before serving, sprinkle the salad with green and black olives and bacon bits.

Simple Yet Delicious Pot Roast

This week was so busy that I didn't notice how short I was on ingredients for a pot roast I wanted to make the other day. No wine, no fresh herbs, no garlic, no canned tomatoes (really, no wine!). Starting with a fantastic chuck roast I had confidence that, despite my pantry's shortcomings, this meal would be satisfying. So, without any fanfare I went ahead with this simple yet delicious pot roast.

After being tantalized for hours by robust aromas, mmm, and tortured by my kids demands, "mom, when will dinner be ready?" (I jest), I noticed a lot of contented smiles from this hearty meal.

Simple Pot Roast

4-5 lb. chuck roast from butcher, tied (I had a 4 1/2 lb roast)

8 carrots, halved  

8 yukon gold potatoes, halved, skins left on

1 medium red onion, chopped

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 32 oz. box beef stock/broth

1 ts Worcestershire Sauce  

1 tbs corn starch and 1/4 cup hot water (for slurry)

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Wash, scrub, and chop vegetables (I left skins on, especially since they were organic). Heat olive oil in stock pot/dutch oven. Salt and pepper meat to taste and brown on all sides, remove (leaving beef bits on bottom of pot) and saute onion (add more olive oil if needed) until tender then garlic until tender. Add beef stock/broth, 2 halved carrots, Worcestershire Sauce. Cook, covered, in oven for 3 hours (or until meat looks tender and is starting to break up - depends on oven and pot). After 3 hours, add potatoes and 6 carrots and cook uncovered 1 hour.  Remove meat and vegetables, make slurry from corn starch and water, add as needed to slightly thicken. Slice meat, lay out on platter with vegetables and pour gravy over top.

First I started by browning meat in olive oil:

After removing meat, I sauteed red onion until tender, scraping up those wonderful bits of flavor:

 While the onion was sauteing, I chopped garlic and added at the end so it wouldn't burn:

When garlic was heated through, I returned the meat, added beef stock, two carrots, about a teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce. This is one ingredient I rarely use (I always feel like I'm cheating) but works well when in a pinch for lack of other ingredients:

 After cooking for 3 hours, in went the potatoes and carrots and cooked another hour:

Don't like carrots? Use green beans instead, which my family prefers but I didn't have. However, when I use them, I always roast separately.  

After 4 hours (when meat was falling apart), I removed meat, cut strings and sliced. I also removed the soft carrots that were added in the beginning.

I quickly made a slurry of corn starch and hot water, slowly added to broth over medium heat until incorporated (but as quickly as possible to finish up for my starving family). The gravy was already reduced from cooking so long it just needed a little thickening - I added only about half the slurry:

Rich, robust, and satisfying!

Leftovers

Leftovers a great for sandwiches, shepards pie, soup, breakfast potatoes, or just reheat as is.

Kale, Roasted Parsnip, And Carrot Soup With Ginger

Brrr, the frigid temperatures in New England right now bring to mind those hearty beefy comfort meals. 

And soup also comes to mind on these frigid days. This soup, I think, is a nice light alternative that's hearty enough, thanks to roasted vegetables, to make you let out sighs of relief and satisfaction and warm you up.

Kale, Roasted Parsnip and Carrot Soup with Ginger

6 cups chicken stock

1 bunch kale

4 - 5 parsnips

3 - 4 carrots

Fresh ginger, about 1/2 to 1 inch long piece (depending on how much you like, thickness of piece, etc.) finely minced or grated  

1/2 ts turmeric

1/2 ts thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Do not peel but trim, scrub, and rinse parsnips and carrots.  Cut lengthwise into similar size slices.  Sprinkle with olive oil, spread out on baking sheet in single layer, and roast in preheated 400 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes for a crisp-tender finish, not mushy (depends on your stove and thickness of vegetables, check for tenderness and burning).  Meanwhile, heat chicken stock. Rinse kale, remove their stems, roughly chop, and add to stock with ginger, turmeric, thyme, salt and pepper to taste.  After parsnips and carrots are roasted, chop into chunky bite size pieces and add to the stock.  Simmer for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender to your liking. 

* * *

For this soup, I started with beautiful organic fresh vegetables. As usual, I had an after thought, and added carrots after taking this picture and chopping. 

Here they are all roasted and tender.

Chop vegetables and add to the soup.

Beautiful turmeric and savory thyme! Or fresh thyme would be lovely.

With mittens off, a hot bowl of soup warmed hands (and bellies).

To read whether to peel carrots and parsnips that are not organic, see:  http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/to-peel-or-not-to-peel/  

Old Country Eggplant Parmesan

Making Eggplant Parmesan the old country way is truly a balancing act. This is another favorite recipe of mine from Nancy Verde Barr's cookbook, "We Called It Macaroni" where she features her grandmother's recipe from Southern Italy.

She says, most American eggplant dishes are overworked and her grandmother's method "results in a delicate - yes, ethereal- affair that balances all the flavors". I agree. Simple, distinct flavors are balanced  here and there are no messy breadcrumbs burning in the cooking oil or overwhelming the eggplant flavor.

Eggplant Parmesan (Parmigiana de Melanzane)

*1 medium eggplant, 1 1/4 lbs

*4 large eggs

*Olive oil for frying

*1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (She refers to her sauce recipe, but, use your own or store bought.  I didn't have any of my own on hand so I used a no-salt organic sauce and salted it myself)

*2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

*Salt and pepper to taste

Peel the eggplant and cut into paper-thin slices (paper-thin slices are the secret to success she says - I did my best but I kept some peel on for nutrients).  

Next step is draining and salting the eggplant to remove the bitter juice. I skip this step as I don't notice a difference and read in Cook's magazine that it isn't necessary.  

Beat eggs with some salt and pepper (avoid or go light on salt, especially if sauce is salty). Preheat a little oil in frying pan on medium heat.  Dip eggplant slices in egg, and working with a few pieces at a time, cook until slightly golden and tender. Add more oil as needed. Drain on paper towels. Alternate layers of cooked eggplant and sauce into an oven-proof dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top and bake in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes:

It looks like I squeezed in 1 or 2 too many slices, but I could tell they were cooking fine and not getting too greasy. And I sliced the eggplant lengthwise to save time.

So, how did it end? My kids are just starting to like Eggplant Parmesan after years of having them try it over and over again in small amounts and they liked it.

 My son puts the eggplant on his bread and eats it like pizza:

The eggplant goes nicely with a romaine lettuce and sliced artichoke heart salad with a simple oil, balsamic vinegar, and mustard dressing:

To lower sodium, rinse artichoke hearts (I couldn't find frozen or low-salt artichoke hearts).

Fresh rosemary bread from Whole Foods was delicious with this meal.

I've tried making Eggplant Parmesan with roasted eggplant and don't like it as much. When I roast eggplant, though, I've noticed that salting and draining the juices help remove the bitterness a little. For tips on salting and draining and different ways of cooking eggplant go to http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/cook-eggplant-to-perfection.aspx.

The above recipe is a nice size for 4 servings, with maybe a little leftover for one sandwich. Since it's a process to make, double up for more leftovers and for big eaters.