New Year's Day Appetizers

 

We were supposed to head to Cape Cod over the Christmas holiday.  Life interfered.  Big time!  And actually it’s a good thing it did.  I got to focus 100% on a huge office project that wound up coming in exactly on time.  Had I gone east that wouldn’t have happened.  Then, we had the major cold storm.  Our pet sitter had to stay at the Zoo and take care of critters so our furry kids would’ve had to count on neighbors.  And, who wants to ask their neighbors to head out in -30 degree wind chills?  Finally, our beloved next door dog, Blizzard, went over the Rainbow Bridge.  We got to say good-bye.  In fact in our office newsletter I told a story about him:

"Before I get back to the original newsletter, I really want to tell you about Blizzard and Connie. Connie is the food guy. We’d get home and get out of the car and if the boys were out they’d come to the very edge of their invisible fence with tails wagging and a couple of woofs. Connie would split a big dog biscuit and take it over. Blizzard would stick around for an ear scratch and Blaze would take off with his half. Yesterday when I got over to their front porch Blizzard barely lifted his head for me. I loved on him and he acknowledged me. His mama, Shantel, had brought him out hoping to let him take one last walk. Didn’t look like it was going to happen. Then, Connie showed up. Blizzard stood up and wagged his tail and woofed. He’d quit eating even his beloved cheese a day before. Connie asked if he could give him a bone and Shantel said sure. So off to our garage Connie went. And, unbelievably Blizzard stood up, toddled down the steps, down the front walk, across the driveway to HIS spot. And, he ate every bite of that dog bone. Shantel and I just stood on the front porch and cried! We’ve been so very lucky to have such wonderful neighbors!" 

Now, the last part of what we would’ve missed is what I’m hoping will become a new family tradition.  We huddled at my brother’s house for heavy appetizers followed by board games followed by the traditional pork, sauerkraut, mashed potato and gravy dinner.  We LOVE board games.  Used to go to an annual party at our friends Jim and Donna’s house.  Then, they moved up here to Indy and their annual games party ended.  And, sadly after a morning of rising early, cooking like crazy and then said heavy appetizers I wound up taking a nap during the board games hour…  You’re probably wondering what we took…

My sister-in-law’s mother requested that I bring “those” wings.  This is a recipe I just can’t believe I haven’t posted before.  We first made these in November, 2017.  My notes say, “WOW! Kids devoured!”  They’ve totally replaced the La Brea Tar Pit wings I made for years.  They’re just plain addictive!

Next up is Bon Appetit’s Old Bay Chips with Lemon Mayo.  John listed them on the menu as “Kate’s funky chips.”  And, they are.  They’re great without the dip and great with the dip.  And, they’re not too terribly difficult to put together.

Then, there’s Palomino’s Tomato and Feta Relish.  We loved Palomino.  It was our before theatre restaurant downtown.  The food and the service were always great.  It was a sad day when they closed.  Fortunately I’ve been able to find all three of our favorite recipes:  Chop Chop Salad, Portobello Mushroom Soup and the Tomato and Feta Relish.  This says to let it sit overnight to let the flavors blend.  Good luck with that in our home!  LOL

I found a book of pimento cheese recipes.  Yup, a whole book.  Read most of it out loud to Connie as we drove up to my niece’s for Christmas brunch.  We tried to figure out which recipe we were going to try first since and I finally decided the author’s pimento cheese was the one to start with.  It was good.  It had pecans in it.  Otherwise, it was a bit bland.  I added some minced onion and some Chipotle Tabasco.  I’ll wait til we have a real winner from this cookbook before I add one of the recipes to the blog.

Then, there’s brie with mushrooms.  My brother John loves mushrooms.  His wife doesn’t.  Means  they’re an out to dinner treat.  I had a small wheel of brie so thought adding this in would be fun.  Here’s the link:  Brie with Mushrooms. 

And, last and certainly least was the tuna tapenade.  It sounded wonderful.  Tuna, capers, anchovies, brandy.  What’s not to love about that?  Salt.  Both Connie and I are pretty fond of salt.  And neither of us could handle this.  Marked it as don’t think about making it again and tossed the whole dish. 

Let’s get cooking!

Teriyaki Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

5 lbs chicken wings

1 c brown sugar, packed

¾ c dry sherry

½ t dry mustard

2 c soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

 

Directions:

Prep the wings by splitting them and removing the tips.  Or, do what we do and buy the prepped wings at Costco.  Just saying.  Put them in a baking pan or two or three in a single layer.  I use 3 – 9x13 pans lined with aluminum foil.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Pour the sauce over.  Bake for two more hours turning the wings every 30 minutes.  Remember to rotate the pans within your oven.  If your sauce hasn’t cooked down to an appropriately syrupy consistency, you can put it in a saucepan and cook it down.  I usually serve these ribs in a crockpot.  And, one other note, no matter how much you think is enough it usually isn’t. 

 

Adapted from A Taste of Palm Springs

 

Old Bay Chips with Lemon Mayo

 

Ingredients:

1 t powdered sugar

3 t Old Bay seasoning, divided

1 8.5 oz bag kettle cooked chips (we use Cape Cod Chips)

1 lemon

1 garlic clove, finely grated

½ c mayo

2 T finely chopped parsley (nice but not mandatory)

 

Directions: 

Preheat your oven to 425 

Put the chips on a half sheet and sprinkle them with a teaspoon of Old Bay.  Pop them in the oven for 4-5 minutes or until they just start to darken. 

While the chips are baking, mix the remaining two teaspoons of Old Bay with the powdered sugar.  Zest the lemon and then cut it in half

 Mix the mayo and garlic with the juice from one half of the lemon.  This is your sauce. 

As soon as the chips come out of the oven sprinkle them with the Old Bay powdered sugar mix and then the lemon zest.  And, then the parsley if you’d like.

 

Adapted from Bon Appetit

 

Palomino’s Tomato and Feta Relish

 

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can whole tomatoes in juice crushed by hand with juice ( I used petite diced tomatoes)

¼ c extra virgin olive oil

½ t minced garli

Pinch Kosher salt

1 T julienned fresh basil

2 T pitted and coarsely chopped Kalamata olives

1 T finely diced red onion

2 T crumbled feta cheese

2 T red wine vinegar

Sliced ciabatta or baguette for serving

 

Directions:

Mix the ingredients and put them in the fridge in a covered container overnight.  That’ll allow the flavors to blend.  You can toast the bread or not. 

 

Adapted from Palomino Restaurant