Next up on this fabulous cooking adventure we have Buffalo Chicken wings with a Blue Cheese dip, which from here on in will be referred to as the Stinky Smelly Schmeese dip (3S-d for short).    Are you ready to cook???  

No. 

Fine I’ll wait.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   Ready now??? 

Ya!!!   AWESOME!  Lets begin.

 

Here’s what you’ll need:  16 chicken wings, 1 stick butter, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, Franks Hot Sauce or Tabasco Sauce, salt, 1.5 cups blue cheese (any kind), mayonnaise, sour cream, milk, Worcestershire sauce and celery for garnish.

First things first, take the chicken wings and cut it into 3 peices.   Here we have cut #1

And here we see cut # 2

Each wing should produce 3 pieces.  Piece #1 and 2 are what we’ll use for this reciepe.  The small, nerdy looking piece of raw chicken appendage can be thrown away. Unless of course you have a weird sense of culinary justice, then you can freeze all those useless pieces for some later use, whatever that use may be. 

Take your large pile of usefull chicken pieces and give them a nice thorough rinse.

Place all the washed chicken on a baking sheet and place it off to the side.

While the chicken is sitting around gossiping we’re going to make the hotish sauce to cook them with.   First place 1 stick of butter in a sauce pan and turn up the heat.

When the butter is melted, add 1 teaspoon (or more if you like your food hot) of cayenne pepper.  

Next add 4 tsp of Frank’s Hot Sauce or Tabasco.  Again if you prefer things more on the burning hot side then add more hot sauce.    Also add 1 tsp of salt – - because no receipe is complete without salt.

Side note:  Notice how my butter mixed is boiling?  Well that’s BAD.  Try not to get your butter mixture to hot, just melting and liquidy.  I had trouble with the consitancy of the sauce and I think it effected the finished product in a very negative way.

Brush 1/2 of the butter mixture over the chicken pieces. 

Um yummy – - salmonilla

I find this picture absolutely revolting.  Everytime I see it my stomach starts to get queasy.   So I thought, heck  I might as well share the queasyness!!   Don’t ya just love it!!

 *cough cough*  Okay, back to cooking.  Place these lovely little salmonilla carriers into your oven (or broiler if you have such things), and broil them 3-inchs below the heat for 8 minutes.   Then take them out, flip them over, brush the rest of the butter mixture over them and place back in the oven for 4 minute or untill done !!

Meanwhile, take your disgusting smelling cheese and crumble it up in a bowl.  Add your mayonnaise and sour cream and milk.

Next toss in some Worcestershire sauce.

Sprinkle in your salt and pepper.   Here is when I took a step back and wondered how in the world this tosseled pile of gross looking/smelling ingredients was possibly going to make an even remotely good tasting dip.   Then I shook my head, grabbed my blender and continued on . . . after all I have a goal in sight, to bake/cook every recipe in this lovely cookbook. (Even the ones that don’t smell so good)

At first I thought I could simply use my trusty hand-held mixer, but as you can see the results as well as the process were less then satisfying.

So I threw it all in this great little blender and mutilated it  untill it conformed to the texture I wanted.    Don’t mess with me you blob of stinky smelly schmeese!!!

Ahh, perfect.

When the chicken is good and cooked, take them out of the oven and transfer to a rack.  See all that yummy fatty, butter drippings at the bottom of pan??  That’s the reason we place these bad boys on a rack, to let as much of that potential heart attack drip off the chicken before we consume them.

 

Once most of the oil has driped off and the chicken has cooled, place them on a serving plater.  Then take the wings, dip and celery over to your parents house, or a friends, or co-workers, or a complete strangers.  Or you can eat them all by your self, but hey where’s the fun in that?

I choose my parents place.  When I arrived I found my neice was there for the day, and she insisted that we use the chicken plates because we were eating chicken.  Her theory sounded a little errie to me but who am I to argue with a 7 year old.

On whatever plate you decide to use, place some chicken wings, a blob of 3s-d, and some celery.  

Here goes nothing!   **Bite. . chew. . swallow. . **

I liked the chicken wings, although as I mentioned earlier, the taste would definitley have been better if I had gotten the sauce consistancy correct. 

I’m still VERY undecided on the 3s-d.  I have never like blue cheese dressings, or blue cheese anything, the flavor is a little too moldy for my taste.  However my Dad really like it, so much so that he kept the leftovers to use as chip dip.    

Why don’t you all go out and whip up a batch of these wings and dip and let me know what you think.

 

  It’s cold out side and snowy. . brrrrr.  Looks like the perfect time for some SOUP!!  

You remeber those roasted vegatables we made last month??  Delicous, steamy, spicey vegtables.  ..  . ..   yummmm!     Uh, ya,, Well I hope you made a double batch.  If not then quickly whip up a batch or two (or three depending on how strong your will power is) and lets get souping. 

For this recipe you’ll need 1 recipe of Roast Winter Vegatbles, salt. pepper. olive oil, a loaf of crusty french bread, and soup stock.

This recipe calls for 6-8 cups chicken stock, which you can either buy, or if like me you happen to have 200 bags of frozen stock in the freezer you can use those.     To speed up the whole thawing process I threw the frozen stock into a pot and placed it on the stove.

Now, this recipe is crazy simple, but it does require a blender of some sort. It doesn’t need to be a blender per say, food processors work fine, or those fun hand held masher thingys.  Anything that has blades

Ohhh shiny sharp blades!!

Begin by scooping up the roasted vegtables and placing 1/4 of them in the blender.  If your blender is bigger and more powerfull then mine (which wouldn’t be very hard) then you ahead and fill that puppy up!

 

This is pretty much all mine can take,   sad little blender.

Add 1/2 cup- 3/4 cup of chicken stock to the vegtables, this will ensure that there is enough water content in the blender for it to properly puree.  I’m not sure if you would need to add the stock if you were using a food processor.  Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn’t.  I’ve never used a processor so I just don’t know.  Sorry.

Turn the blender on, and watch the magic unfold.

Here’s a lovely photo of the vegtables pureeing taken from the top of the blender.  As I gaze at this picture part of me is thinking “um yummmyyy” while another part begins to see simalarities between the color’s and , , other less wholesome and non-food related things. . . cringe!   But since I’ve actually tasted this soup I’m gonna stick with my postive self . … . . yummy !!    

Moving on.

Place the puree in a bowl.

Remeber that soup stock we were thawing??  Well go grab it from off the stove, its time of usefullness has arrived.

Place all the puree in a large pot, put it in the stove and turn the heat up.  Now slowly begin adding the broth.   There’s alot of wiggle room here, if you like your soups very runny add LOTS of broth.  However, if you prefer a more thick soup simply add less!  

I choose less!!  Because I like soup you have to eat with a knife and fork.  Okay, well not really,  but I do prefer it on the thicker side.

Once you’ve reached the appropriate consistancy, grab your spices and start seasoning.  Throw in some pepper.

A dash or two of salt!

Stir all up and bring the soup to a slow boil, just to heat it up.

While the soups heating, take your loaf of bread and begin cutting it into 1inch cubes.  On a side note: this was a whole loaf of bread just this morning.  However, my lovely and ever so thoughtfull twin decided she’d like some toast for breakfast.  Slice Slice!   Then I stumbled into the kitchen, still half asleep and in a state of semi-conciousness, and decide I to wanted toast for breakfast.  Slice Slice.   Well before I knew it my lovely loaf of cruton making bread was now a stub.  Which is fine, I respect all shapes and sizes of bread here! 

Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet.    (How pathetic does this picture look! Poor stubby bread cudes

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the pan.  Unless of course you have a rather sad amount of cubes then use less. . . . . . . way less.

Sprinkle on some salt.   I love sprinkling salt!!   Sprinkled salt completes me!!  (Kinda)

Shake on some pepper.

Toss the bread cubes around, until nicely coated.  Then pop them into a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes, then toss them around again and throw them back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes.

They should be nice and golden brown when done. 

Now, place some soup in a colorful and fun bowl!!  

Then change youR mind and use the boring white dishes.  (They matched my table decor better.).    Place some delicous crutons on top (use more then three, unless you used stubby bread, then three is all you really can do).   Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the crutons.  Serve, eat, smile !!  

Ummmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!   This is gggood soup.  Try it!   That’s an order!

Ready to get your recommend daily intake of beta-carotene?  I know I am, and that fly definitly is!

While I was reading over this recipe the other day a strange feeling over came me.  Call it anticipation, call it dread, call it naivety.  As I scanned the ingredients I realized that I had never tasted, let alone cooked, with 2 of the 4 main ingredients.   Parsnips and sweet potatoes.   These arn’t exactually the first vegatbles that pop to mind when I’m thinking of, , , ,well to tell you the truth I’ve NEVER thought of them.  Not to eat. Not to cook.  Not at all.   

(The only memory I have of sweet potatoes is a line from a movie that flys through my mind every 3rd year or so, , “Sweet Potater Pie!”.  No idea were its from.)

Okay enough about my lack of culinary experiences….

 

Here is what you’ll need.  1 lb of each, carrots (a vegatable I know) and parsnips (one I don’t know).  1 large sweet potater. . ur, , potato.  1 medium butternut squash.  Flat leaf parsley, a small bunch will do.  Pepper, salt and good olive oil.

 

First thing your going to do is wash and peel all the vegtables.  See I’m peeling the parsnips!!  In the background you can see all the lovely carrot peelings.  $10.00 says my Mom is shaking her head at this very moment (some comment about cleaning up as you go along jumps to mind).

Once everything is peeled, chop all the vegtables into 1″ cudes (and by cubes I mean any random shape that happens to result from the swinging of your sharpish knives).  The vegs will shrink so don’t cut them to small.  

Don’t forget the Sweet Potater!!!   Wash! Peel! Chop!  Sweet Potater Pie!!

When you get to the butternut squash, remeber to clean out all the guts!  I chopped the top off first, just because it’s funner that way.  You should like totally do the same.

Looky here, nice clean butternut squashes.   Chop those bad boys up! 

Here we have all the chopped up vegtables.  I spy parsnips, carrots and squash!  Where for art thou sweet potater??  

Throw those veggies into baking pans, you’ll probably use two. (I’m sure I have a picture with both pans, but at the moment I’m to lazy to go looking for it! )

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the vegtables. 

Sprinkle pepper over the veggies.  If you like lots then sprinkle lots, if you prefer little then be conservative.

Finally sprinkle on a little salt, and toss everything together.

 

Pop those pans in a 425 degree oven and let them cook for 25-35 minutes, until all the vegtables are soft but not mushy.

 

Oh my goodness!!!  Look at those delicous roasted vegtables!

 

Yummyyy!!  *drool drool* Wipe *drool*

 

After you’ve finished salavating, spoon a LARGE helping onto a nice white plate, preferably one that you stole from your older sister.  RESIST the urge to gobble them up, , we’re not quite done.

Lets not forget the parsley.  Take a small bunch….

Wash them and remove the leaves from the . .stick part. . stem!

Chop the parsley into meadium-small pieces.

Sprinkle over the vegtables!  Don’t be stingy here, sprinkle like your saving the world.

Doesn’t that look divine!!  The verdict =  I LOVE PARSNIPS!!!  AND CARROTS!! AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH!!  AND SWEET POTATERS!!       The perfect culinary trifecta~(except there’s four of them not three,  the perfect fourfecta??)  

 Try this recipe and your life will be complete and have meaning.  (in a warped food-snob sort of way)

The time has come!   Let’s crack open that lovely cookbook.  Take a minute to breathe in the lovely new book smell!!  Now flip past all the intro, past page 5 and 6 keep going till you reach the first recipe, which happens to land on page (get this). . . . 28!!  28 pages of intro, writing, menu planning etc!! 

Now doesn’t that look delicous!!  This isn’t just any clam chowder (as my title suggests), oh no, this is East Hampton Clam Chowder!!  (Because everything tastes better in East Hampton)

Here’s what you’ll need: Milk, flour, salt (I use sea salt), pepper, potatoes, celery, carrots, clams, onions, butter and thyme!

 

First things first, we’re gonna chop up all the vegtables !!!  Hooray!  We are going to need 2 cups chopped onions (approx 2 onions), 2 cups diced celery (4 stalks), 2 cups diced carrots (6 carrots) and 4 cups peeled and diced potatoes (8 medium potatoes).  

I think now would be a very good time to point everyones attention to my cutting board.  Notice the puny size of it, the worn look of the wood  and most importantly the puny size of it (did I say that already?).  It’s truly a sad day when a cook extraordinaire must cut on such an aged board. 

On a completely unrelated note: Christmas is less then 2 months away !!!

After cutting up the vegs you should have roughly this amount!  

Melt 4 tbs butter in large heavy-bottom stock pot. If you don’t have a stock pot (like me), use the largest frying pan you can find.   Preferrably one that has been used and abused not only by you, but also by your sister who, (after beating the life out of it) decided to let it retire at your house!  (Have I mentioned Christmas is coming??)

 

Add the onions (2cups) and cook on med-low heat for 10 min.

 

Meanwhile take your fresh thyme, remove the leaves from the stick, and chop them coursely.  Your going to need 1.5 teaspoons fresh thyme. If you don’t do the fresh herb thing you can also use 1/2 tsp dried thyme.

 Add the celery, carrots, potatos, your freshly minced thyme, salt (1 tsp) and pepper (1/2 tsp) to the onions and saute  for 10 min.

 

Now, take you clams. (I bought baby clams by mistake, regular probably work just fine)

And seperate the clams from the clam water or uh juice??  What do you call the liquid the clams are packed in?  If you happen to be browsing through the Barefoot Contessa’s cookbook and read this recipe, you’ll notice that it calls for clam juice.  Since I’ve never ever cooked with clams, or their juices, I didn’t know if the “clam juice” was simply the water pictured above, or if there is actual juice that you can buy.   I used the water, and it worked fine.

 Take your clam juice or clam water (4 cups) and add it to the vegtables.  Bring that mix to a boil and then let it simmer uncovered until the veggies are tender.  (20 min)

 

While the veggies are tenderizing, melt the remaining butter (1 stick or 8 tbs) and whisk in flour (1/2 cup).  Cook on very low for 3 minutes,  stirring constantly. 

 

Whisk in 1 cup of the hot vegtable mix broth (and a carrot or two if you feel so inclined).  Once you add the broth the mixture will get very thick VERY FAST.   Pour the rapid-thickening butter mix back into vegtables let that all simmer untill all the broth is thickend. (Maybe 2-3 minutes)

 

Then add 2 cups of milk. . . 

. . .and 3 cups clams. (If you used regular clams, give them a little chopping before adding them)  Mix it all up and cook for a few minutes. (5-10)

Now that you have a few minutes you can call up your Mom and Dad or an Uncle, or friend prephaps, and invite them to join you for supper!!   What!! You have no bread?  Well don’t worry about that just cut up some bagels and a croissant.  Pile them on a plate and hope no one makes any cruel remarks about your domestic skills.

There ya have it, delicous East Hampton Clam Chowder!  Enjoy!