Smoked "Buff-a-que" Wings

Some things are just made to be together.  Peanut butter and jelly, wine and cheese, Ernie and Bert, and most importantly, sports and food.  Right now, there is no better time of year to watch sports and eat food.  For eons, people have been having parties that revolve around sporting events and food.  I'm certain that they even tailgated at the Colosseum in Rome (NSFW) before big battles.

One of my favorite times of year is March/April due to the NCAA basketball tournament, the Masters and the start of baseball season!   This is a recipe for perhaps the most common of sports foods, the chicken wing.  Chicken wings are arguably the most perfect "sports food" ever created.  You can completely eat them with one had, leaving the other hand for beer consumption, high fives and flipping channels.  This recipe is one that I've honed over the years.  I smoke my wings and sauce them several times with a mixture of bbq sauce and traditional wing sauce (hence the name "buff-a-que").  If you do not have a smoker you can achieve great results using the indirect method of grilling on your grill.

Ingredients:

1 "Family Pack" of chicken wings (remove the wing tips from the wings and discard.  Also remove the drumstick from the wing and cut away extra fat and skin)
1/2 cup of bbq seasoning
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce
1 bottle of your favorite spicy wing sauce (I use Texas Pete)
2 handfulls of wood chips, soaked in water for 30 minutes (I prefer apple wood)

Season with chicken wings with the dry bbq seasoning then coat the wings in olive oil.  I like to do this step in a 1 gallon ziplock freezer bag.  Next combine the bbq sauce, with the spicy wing sauce and set aside.  I prefer a mix of 60% spicy wing sauce to 40% BBQ sauce.  You can adjust the mix to your own taste. 

Saucy Wings

If you are using a smoker, prepare the smoker for cooking between 300 and 350 degrees.  If you have a water pan in your smoker, cover the pan with aluminum foil but do not put any water in it.  If you are using a grill, set up the grill for indirect grilling.  Place the wood chips or chunks on the grill or smoker directly over the coals.  If you are using a gas grill, place the wood chips in a smoker box or wrap them in heavy duty aluminum foil and put them over the burner. 

Place the chicken skin side down on the smoker or grill away from the flame.  Cook for about 40 minutes (60 to 90 minutes on a smoker), turning the wings about half way through cooking.  Start basting the wings with the sauce every 10 minutes or so during the last 20 minutes of cooking.  When the wings are cooked through, remove from the grill and serve with blue cheese dressing for dipping.  If you like your wings extra saucy, pour the remaining bbq sauce over the wings after they have been removed from the grill.  Turn on the game, invite your friends over, get out lots of paper towels and enjoy!

Mussell and Shrimp Paella

A couple of years ago, I was on the receiving end of a wonderful Christmas present, an authentic Spanish Paella pan! I've always been fond of Paella. My Dad made paella every summer at the beach so eating it, always triggers great memories.

I love the versatility and range of Paella. There are so many variations of Paella that you can seemingly eat it forever and not have the same dish twice. You can always add any ingredients to the dish to make it your own. One of the things that I have learned about Paella, is that the dish is all about the rice. That should be the focus of the dish and the ingredients should complement the rice not overtake it.

Ever since I received my own paella pan, I've been experimenting with different kinds of paella.  It's a very fun dish to make.  There is lots of sauteing and it smells amazing as you are cooking.  It's a great dish for entertaining, just be sure to do your prep work before the company comes over.  You don't want to be stuck in the kitchen chopping while everyone else is having fun! 

This recipe is an all seafood paella.  Mussels are one of my favorite things in the world!  I remember going to Cape Cod as a kid and picking them right off of the rocks by the canal that we took walks by.  Use fresh mussels not frozen (yuck) and if you can find it, use Bomba Rice imported from Spain.  If you can't find it, arborio rice (short grain) works well.  This recipe really highlights the flavor of the mussels and it blends perfectly with the sweetness of the rice.

One day, I will make it to Spain and eat my way across the country! Until then I will keep on trying out recipes from Penelope Casas. I have two cook books from her that I've had great luck with. This dish was based of a dish from her book Paella! Spectacular Dishes from Spain.  Now, mix up some sangria, and cook up this delicious paella.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of mussels in their shells washed and cleaned of their beards
1/2 cup of dry white wine
2 1/2 cups of clam juice or seafood stock

Check out my mussells!

1/3 teaspoon of crumbled saffron threads
1 hard boiled egg, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Spanish onion chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of smoked Spanish hot smoked paprika (if you can't find it regular paprika will do)
1 1/2 of bomba rice or arborio short grain rice
around 14 Sugar Snap Peas
1 small can of pimento strips

Directions:
Reserve around 14 mussels and place aside.  Place the wine into a large skillet with a tight fitting lid add the remaining mussels, cover and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes or until most of the mussels have opened.  Discard all of the mussels that did not open.  Reserve all of the fluid that the mussels cooked in and strain into a large liquid measuring cup.  Top off the reserved broth with enough clam juice to make 4 cups of liquid.  Return the broth mixture to the pan, place over medium low heat and add the saffron.  Keep the liquid mixture warm but do not bring it to a boil.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove the cooked mussels from the shells and chop the mussels coarsely.  In a large paella pan or skillet, add the olive oil and place over medium high heat.  Add the shrimp and cook for about one minute, stirring constantly.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp from the pan.  Add the bell pepper, garlic, onion, rosemary, salt.  Lower the pan to medium heat and cook for about 4 minutes.

Stir in the paprika and rice and mix until the rice is well coated with oil.  Add the broth to the pan and bring to a boil.  Boil the mixture for about 2 minutes and then add the chopped egg and shrimp.  Continue to cook over medium heat until the mixture is not soupy but so there is enough liquid left to cook the rice.  If your burner is not large enough to cover the entire bottom of the pan, rotate the pan occasionally while cooking.


Top the rice mixture with the uncooked mussels, peas and sliced pimentos and place in the oven.  Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked through. 

Remove the pan from the oven and place on a burner over high heat rotating the pan constantly for 1 to 3 minutes.  This will crisp the bottom layer of rice and form the soccarat, which is the most coveted part of the paella in Spain.  Be careful not to burn the rice.  You want the rice to be a nice golden brown.  This step is optional.  A nice way to serve this dish is family style, right out of the paella pan.

Invite over your friends, mix up a pitcher of sangria and enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash Al Forno

One of my running buddies has been asking me to post a vegetarian dish.  I try to weave all veggie dishes into our meal rotation occasionally but I don't have a large arsenal of them.  I was watching one of my favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives the other day and featured on the show was Earls Drive Inn, located in, Chaffee, New York.  The head chef at Earls, cooked a vegetarian dish that I had to try.  It's spaghetti squash and any kind of vegetable combo you can think of, mixed with marinara sauce, piled back into the shell of the spaghetti squash, topped with fresh mozzarella and baked in the oven.  The result looked amazing!  The episode I saw this cooked on was called "Twists and Traditions".  You can experiment with the veggies included in this dish, be creative!  Dena, this ones for you!

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash
2 cups of uncooked fresh broccoli,  chopped into bite size pieces
1 cup of mushrooms
1 cup of onion, chopped
1/2 of a carrot, peeled and chopped
1 half of a red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup of zuchinni, chopped
1/2 cup of egg plant diced
1/2 cup of yellow squash, chopped
1/2 cup of fresh asparagus, chopped into bite size pieces
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 cup of wine
fresh mozzarella cheese
1 jar of marinara sauce.  

Cut the spaghetti squash in half length-wise.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Place the spaghetti squash in the boiling water and boil for 15 minutes or until tender.  Remove the squash from the water and remove the squash from the shell with a fork, reserving the empty squash shells and the shredded squash for later.  The squash should resemble spaghetti, hence the name spaghetti squash.

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Heat the marinara sauce in a separate pan.  Add the onion to the olive oil and cook for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, broccoli, asparagus, mushrooms, carrot, bell pepper, yellow squash, zucchini and saute for 10 minutes.  Add the wine, and cover.  Cook until the vegetables are almost cooked through, about 10 more minutes.  You still want them to have some bite to them.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add the spaghetti squash and half of the marinara sauce.  Spoon the mixture back into the reserved spaghetti squash shells.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with the remaining marinara sauce and enjoy!

Rotisserie Chicken Chili

One of my running buddies, Thad McLaurin, who I credit for getting me connected with my running group, writes a blog called RunnerDudesBlog.  It's a fantastic blog about running, fitness, nutrition and exercise.  He has interviewed pillars of the running community, Olympic athletes, authors, and me.  I'm not sure how I finagled my way onto his blog but I'm honored to provide a recipe for RunnerDude and his readers!  If you love running, want to take up running, or just want a great recipe for Rotisserie Chicken Chili, check out his blog. 

RunnerDude!

Thad also operates a very successful fitness company in Greensboro, NC called Runner Dude's Fitness.  If your in the market for some personal training, running advice or nutrition consulting (you might need it if you read my blog), give him a call. 

Now go make some chili!  Thanks RunnerDude!

Real Maryland Crab Cakes!

One topic that seems to come up repeatedly at the Manry family dinner table (the grown up table) is what our "death meal" would be.  In other words, if you were going to die tomorrow, what would your last meal be.  Yes, it's a dark topic, but it's always a fun discussion.  My wife would definitely choose crab cakes, and I think I might be right there with her.  I'm not talking about the horrible "Maryland style" crab cakes that every restaurant claims to have here in NC, but real Maryland crab cakes!  Most of the crab cakes that you get outside of Maryland have more filler than crab and they are deep fried.  They are basically fried bread with a little bit of stringy crab mixed in. 

I admit, Maryland natives are a very proud people. We tend to think very highly of our home state in all regards but especially its cuisine (and we're right).  Some of the best crab cakes in Maryland come from Faidley's located in Lexington Market in Bal'mer, (Baltimore for you non-Marylanders).  The following  recipe is an attempt to duplicate Faidley's crab cakes.  They use Jumbo Lump crab meat in their crab cakes.  This is extremely hard to find outside of coastal cities.  If you can find it, and have the money, buy it.  It makes a huge difference in the texture of crab cake.  In this recipe, I'm going to use backfin because it's readily available and it was on sale.  By the way, Faidley's uses backfin crab meat as their "filler" to bind the jumbo lump crab meat together.  I use crushed saltines.  Winner Faidley's.  If your ever in Charm City, and want a true Baltimore experience, pay a visit to Lexington Market.  Get some Faidley's crab cakes for lunch, and for dessert, get some Berger Cookies (also located in Lexington Market). 

Crabbie Patties!

Ingrediants:
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup of Mayonaise
1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1 pound of Crab Meat (preferably jumbo lump)
Saltine crackers (about 20, crushed up)
Old Bay
3/4 Stick of Butter

Cooking in Butter

Combine the first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl.  Pour the crab into a separate bowl.  Slowly add about half of the mayo/egg mixture to the crab meat.  Carefully mix together, you do not want to break up the crab meat to much, the lumpier the better.  Add about half the the crushed saltines.  Keep repeating these steps until the crab meat mixture is at a point where you can form patties out of it.  You might not need all of the Mayo/egg and Saltines.  Form the crab meat into around 8 thick patties (if you want larger crab cakes make fewer crab cakes, duh!).  Place the crab cakes on a wax paper or foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle the crab cakes with Old Bay and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 

Do you see any filler here? 

Remove the crab cakes from the fridge and now your ready to cook!  Melt the butter in a heavy pan, preferably a iron skillet over medium heat.  Carefully, place the crab cakes in the pan and cook in batches, for about 5 to 7 miunutes per side.  Be careful when you flip the crab cakes over so that they do not break apart.  When the crab cakes are done, they should be well browned on the outside

Now, put on the O's game, pour yourself a Natty Boh and enjoy Hun!

Homemade Bagles

Fresh Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

I was snowed in the house sometime last year and was extremely bored.  I cracked open a cook book and found a recipe for bagels. To me, bagels were always something that you picked up at the store.  They were usually chewy, and you needed copious amounts of butter and cream cheese to mask the bland taste of the bagels.

These bagels are awesome!  Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.  You can get as creative as you want with these bagels.  I've made blueberry, chocolate chip and strawberry, onion, cinnamon-raisin and several other variates of bagels with this base recipe.  This is based off a recipe I found in Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything. The only special equipment you will need for this recipe is a spray bottle, a food processor and a baking stone (optional). 

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of instant yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar or maple syrup
1/4 cups water

Place the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process for 5 seconds.  With the food processor running, pour the water into the feed tube.  Let the food processor run for about 30 seconds or until a dough ball has formed.  At this point, there should be a nice slightly sticky, easy to handle dough ball in the food processor.  If the dough is too dry, add a little bit of water.  If it's too wet, add some more flour.  Now remove the dough from the food processor and place it on a floured surface.  Knead the dough by hand for a minute or so. 

If you are going to add extra ingredients to your bagels, now is the time to add them.  While kneading the dough, work your favorite flavorings into the dough.  If you are adding fresh fruit, you may need to add some additional flour to the dough due the the release of the juice in the fruit.  My personal favorite are fresh blueberries!

Place the dough in a large non-reactive bowl and cover with a towel.  Allow the dough to rise for about 2 hours.  If you are not going to cook the bagels right away, you can place the dough in the refrigerator overnight, letting the dough come back up to room temperature before proceeding the next day.  What I usually do is set my alarm extra early, take the dough out of the fridge and then go back to bed!

Now it's time to practice your karate skills.  Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface.  Punch the dough ball gently so that it deflates.  Cover with a towel and let sit for 10 minutes.  Now it's time to make the bagels!  Break the dough in 8 to 12 equal pieces.  Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke a hole in each dough ball and then working from the outside, in, shape the dough into a bagel like shape.  Once your bagels are formed, lightly flour them, let them rest, covered with a towel, on your work surface, for 30 minutes.

Bagels in the hot tub

In a large pot, boil water.  Place your baking stone in the oven and preheat to 400 degrees.  Drop the bagels one at a time into the boiling water but don't overcrowd them.  The bagels will drop to the bottom of the pot but they will surface in about 20 seconds or so.  Boil the bagels for about 1 minute per side then take them out and place them on a greased wire rack.

Post soak on the wire rack

If you don't have a baking stone, grease a baking sheet.  Fill your spray bottle with water and spray water into the oven.  Place the bagels on the hot baking stone or baking sheet and place on the middle rack in the oven.  After 5 minutes, spray some more water in the oven to create steam.  This is what will give the bagels a nice crispy crust.  Continue baking the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are browned.  Remove from the oven and place the bagels on a wire rack.  Spray them with water and allow to cool on the wire rack.  Now your ready to top them with copious amounts of butter and cream cheese and enjoy!

Some bagel flavor ideas:
Blueberry
Strawberry and chocolate chip 
Rosemary and Olive Oil
Cheese
Cinnamon Raisin
Sauteed Onion
Be creative, the options are endless!

Turkey Meatballs

I was sitting at work last week, my mind was wondering and I started thinking about what we were having for dinner.  I was planning on making pan seared chicken with....oh crap, I forgot to defrost the chicken!  I really did not want to order take out but I did not want to break the bank buying ingredients for a week night meal.  Ah-ha, homemade meatballs!  I usually have all of the ingredients for this dish on hand with the exception of turkey and it's a quick and easy meal to prepare.  I got the base for this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' Food Network show.  I really enjoy her cookbooks and her show.  These meatballs do not taste like a quick meal, they are extremely moist, crisp on the outside and the taste of the cheese, turkey and breadcrumbs are a perfect combination! 

If I don't have time to make my own sauce, I cheat and use a store bought sauce.  I have found a store bought sauce that I absolutly love!  HT Traders Tomato Basil Marinaria, sauce from Harris Teeter is the best store bought sauce that I have ever tasted.  It has the texture and taste that perfectly complements these meatballs. 

Ingredients:

1 small onion grated (this is easy to do with a food processor)
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 large egg
1/4 cup of Italian bread crumbs
3 tablespoons of ketchup
1/4 cup of chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/4 cup of grated Parmesan
1/4 cup of Pecorino Romano
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound of ground dark turkey meat
2 jars of high quality store bought sauce or your favorite homemade sauce
1 package of pasta (cooked according to the package directions)

Combine the onion, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, ketchup, parsley, Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, salt and pepper and a large mixing bowl.  Take off all your rings unless you want turkey stuck in your jewlery, then add the turkey and mix by hand until the ingredients are well integrated. 

Shape the turkey mixture into golf ball sized meatballs and place on a greased rimmed baking pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, or until the meatballs are browned and cooked through.  While the meatballs are cooking, heat up the sauce and cook the pasta.  When the meatballs are cooked, remove from the oven and place them in the sauce.  Mix the the meatballs with the sauce until the meatballs are coated in sauce. 

Plate the pasta with the meatballs and sauce, top with some extra Pecorino Romano cheese, put on some Sinatra, and dig in!