Grilled Wings

One of my favorite restaurants in the twin cities, Khan's Mongolian Barbeque, has these really great chicken wings. I've wanted to try to replicate them for years but could never find a copycat recipe for the marinade. Finally, at the suggestion of my husband, I decided to just look through my fridge and pantry and try to come up with a similar combination. We grilled them, and they were fantastic, but I'm sure they would be great baked or fried, too.

Grilled Chicken Wings

Serves 2-3

Prep Time - 5 minutes

Inactive time - at least 2 hrs

Cook Time - 10-12 minutes

INGREDIENTS

10-12 chicken wings

4 TBSP soy sauce

3 TBSP teriyaki sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 TBSP brown sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4-1/2 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients, soy sauce through pepper in a zip-lock bag. Add chicken wings and make sure the marinade coats them all. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hrs.

Preheat the grill and cook the wings about for about 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Serve as either an appetizer or a main course.

Maple Hot Wings

There is a restaurant in Iowa City called The Vine that makes amazing chicken wings. The best of their 10 flavors is the maple hot - or at least, that's the consensus in my family.

We've wanted to try to re-create these wings for some time, but haven't been sure where to start. Then, I came across a recipe for maple wings in my google reader and became inspired. While the end result didn't really taste much like the Maple Hot wings from The Vine, we both really liked these wings and will be making them again.


Maple Hot Wings
Serves 2
Cook & Prep Time - 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS
6-7 whole chicken wings, divided
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
1/3 cup lite soy sauce
1/4 cup barbeque sauce
1 TBSP minced garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 serrano peppers, sliced
1 1/3 cups maple syrup
Oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil to 375 degrees. (We do this in our deep fryer).

Meanwhile,in a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, garlic, onion powder, pepper, maple syrup, barbeque sauce, and serrano peppers. Bring to a low boil and simmer to allow it to thicken.

Fry the wings until cooked through (should be about 10 minutes).

Remove serrano peppers. Pour sauce over wings and shake to coat.

Roasted Ricotta Roma Tomatoes

We're going on vacation in a few days, so it's time to clean out the fridge. I just hate to let the perishables go to waste while I'll be galavanting around with Mickey Mouse. That lead me to Pioneer Woman's Roasted Ricotta Roma Tomatoes.

I wasn't sure how I'd react to these. I mean, I don't like plain tomatoes and I'm just starting to warm up to ricotta. However, I overcame that fear and decided to give them a try.

I'm a little torn on what I thought about these. They were decent - the cheesy filling was great. But overall, I felt like it was missing some pasta; like I was eating the sauce and cheese inside a lasagna. I'd encourage you to try them, possibly improve upon them, and let me know what you think.


Roasted Ricotta Roma Tomatoes
Recipe from Pioneer Woman
Serves 8-ish (I cut down to serve 2-3)

INGREDIENTS
1 handful flat-leaf Parsley
1 handful fresh Basil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
8 Roma tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups Ricotta cheese
*1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I added)
bread crumbs
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to to 400 degrees F.

Wash tomatoes and half them. After halving them, gut the insides out with a spoon. Discard the seeds and other gooey parts. Sprinkle a bit of salt inside each tomato half and place them on a cookie sheet.

Chop up herbs & garlic and mix with the Ricotta and Parmesan cheeses. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Fill each tomato half with a heaping spoonful of the cheese mixture.

Sprinkle each tomato half with bread crumbs. Drizzle each with a little bit of olive oil.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!