Asian Chicken Wings with Sesame

chicken wings

4lbs buffalo-style chicken wings
3T hoisin sauce
¼C sesame oil
2t garlic powder
2T brown sugar
2T raw honey
¼C sweet vermouth
¼C light soy sauce

Preheat oven to 425 F with a large, flat, Teflon coated pan (not aluminum) to heat up. The hot pan will help to sear wings before they cook.

Rinse meat thoroughly and dry with a paper towel.

In a large bowl, combine chicken with hoisin sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, brown sugar, raw honey, sweet vermouth and light soy sauce and toss until chicken is covered.

chicken wings

Remove pan from oven and place the wings on pan and spread apart so they are not touching.  They should all fit on one pan, so that they have room to cook and carmelize in the pan.

Cook for 30 mins, then remove from oven and turn the wings over and replace in the oven for another 15 minutes.

chicken wings

Serve warm.  You can also make them ahead and reheat when they need to be served.

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Pineapple, Jalapeno and Red Pepper Dover Sole

dover sole

2 6 oz Dover Sole filets
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 garlic clove, sliced thin
¼ cup of dry vermouth
1 tablespoon pineapple jalapeno sauce
Salt to taste

It’s always good to keep fish in your freezer. There are many variations to make it and it’s an easy thing to make for dinner after a long day. You can take it out of the freezer in the morning and have it ready by the end of the day to prepare and cook.

Preheat a flat skillet pan over medium heat and add in oil.

When oil is hot, add in the pepper. Then after about a minute add in garlic.

Cook for another minute then add fish and season with salt. Over high heat sear the fish on either side, about 2-3 minutes on either side.

Reduce heat and deglaze pan with dry vermouth and add pineapple jalapeno sauce. Stir with peppers and vermouth and serve.

Roasted Beet Salad

8-10 medium striped beets
1 medium red onion
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of pine nuts
1 teaspoon of Maldon salt
1/4 cup of walnut oil
1/4 cup of sweet vermouth

For this salad, I used striped beets also known as candy cane beets.

striped beets

Peel and clean all of the beets and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice one of the beets, so that you can see the beauty of the color variations. Dice the beets into 1 inch pieces, but you can also cut them into different sizes depending upon how you like your beets. The different sizes will give you a variety of looks after roasting.

Place the beets into a roasting pan. Add 1 sliced medium red onion and 1 sprig of fresh rosemary. Break the rosemary apart and sprinkle over the vegetables. Also add 3 cloves of whole garlic, 2 tablespoons of pine nuts and 1 teaspoon of Maldon salt. Drizzle with ¼ cup of walnut oil and toss together to coat all of the vegetables. Roast in the oven for 1 hour at 400 degrees.

beets in roasting pan

After 45 minutes add the sweet vermouth and place back in the oven for the remaining time.

Cover with foil until ready to serve.

Mexican Lasanga

lasagna whole
8 Chorizo links (Goya brand)

Cook chorizo in a pan over medium heat until all sides are browned.
Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of dry vermouth. Add 3 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 tsp of fennel seeds, and pout mixture into a food processor.

Pulse until mixture is a small crumble, then remove and place into a bowl.

Roast 2 polano peppers over a flame (grill or gas stovetop). This will help to remove skin and intensify the flavor. Place the pepper right over the flame until all sides are covered with brown blisters.

peppers

Remove from heat, and place into a brown paper bag to help “sweat” off their skin.

Once cool, peel the blistered skin from the pepper and finely dice the pepper. Add 1 tsp of garlic powder and 1 tsp of salt to the peppers and reserve for cheese sauce.

In a small sauce pan simmer 1 cup of half and half or heavy cream over low heat.

In order to help thicken the liquid, take 1/2 C of warm half and half in a small bowl and wisk in 1 tsp cornstarch and 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.

Once incorporated, add the liquid back to the pot and continue wisking.
Add diced polanos and 3/4 cup shredded asaigo cheese and wisk until cheese is melted into the milk mixture.

Remove from heat and place the sauce in a container and into the refrigerator.

Using Doritos or another tortilla chip, pulse in food processor to make about 2 cups worth of crumbs.

Finely dice 2 Spanish onion and place in a pan with oil to caramelize
Add ½ tsp salt
¼ c sweet vermouth to deglaze

Caramelize 2 leeks in a pan with sweet vermouth and ½ tsp of salt

Using pre-made crepes, layer the ingredients in a springform pan.

This is how I layered my Mexican lasagna, but you can try different layer combinations.

Crepe
Onion
Crepe
Chorizo
Crepe
Poblano cheese sauce
Doritos
Crepe
Shredded cheese
Chorizo
Onion
Crepe
Poblano cheese sauce
Doritos
Leeks
Chorizo
Crepe
Top with cheese

Cook at 375 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes prior to removing springform pan and serving.

lasagna cut

Banana Stuffed Crepes

This a quick dessert that looks like it took lots of prep time. You can easily assemble this while having people congregate in the kitchen, because flambing can be quite a show!

Cut 2 bananas into 2 inch pieces. The firmer the banana, the better.

Dip each piece in egg whites and roll in the granola crumble left over from french toast. Chill in the refrigerator prior to cooking.

Melt 1/2 stick of salted butter in a cast iron pan over medium heat. Place the chilled banana pieces in the pan and brown on all sides.

bananas

Once browned, add 1 oz of brandy to flambe the bananas. *Be careful of the fire.*

flambe

Mix together 1 cup of mascarpone cheese with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup in a bowl.

Take a pre-made crepe and spoon 2 tablespoons of the mascarpone mixture onto the crepe and add a couple of pieces of banana. Fold the crepe over and serve.