The Starving Musician Recipes
Southwest Buffalo Wings
Serves 6-8
This recipe eliminates the messy step of deep frying and is easily
adaptable to make it completely low fat...But, as with most things, it's
better with the butter and full-fat dressing!
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50 chicken wing "drummette" pieces, rinsed and patted dry with paper towels
(If you can't find wings precut, see directions below for how to cut your
own wing pieces. They're usually cheaper this way.)
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1/2 stick butter
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6 Tablespoons Pace Picante sauce, Medium (yellow cap--not the chunky one)
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1 jar refrigerated Bleu cheese dressing (I prefer Bob's brand. Stir it well
before serving, as the bleu cheese falls to the bottom of the jar.)
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celery sticks as an accompaniment
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a sheet pan or jelly roll pan with Pam
cooking spray, place wing pieces on pan in one layer, not touching, and bake
25-30 minutes until done.
In skillet or sauté pan, melt butter. Add picante sauce, stirring to heat
through. Pat wings with paper towels to remove excess fat, add to skillet,
and toss til thoroughly coated. Serve with Bleu cheese dressing and celery
sticks.
Creative Options: Use ranch dressing if you like. For Low-Fat
wings: Eliminate the butter, increase the Picante sauce to 1/3 cup and
heat through, and use low-fat bleu cheese dressing. For traditional Buffalo
wings: use 1 stick of butter and 2 generous tablespoons Frank's Red Hot hot
sauce, and serve with bleu cheese dressing and celery sticks.
To cut wings into serving pieces: A family pack of chicken wings is
about right for this recipe. On your cutting board, "unbend" each wing to
expose the joints. Cut off wing tips, reserving for another use, then cut
wing apart at each joint. You should end up with a small wing tip, a middle
portion, and a thicker "upper arm" portion. If you're feeling especially
chic, you can make mini-drumsticks by trimming the meat off the narrow end
of each "upper arm" portion, but I usually don't bother.
What to do with the wing tips: The wing tips make great chicken
stock: place in a small saucepan with 1 rib chopped celery, 1/3 cup chopped
onion, and 1 chopped carrot. Sauté just until wings start to turn golden,
add cold water just to cover, bring to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer,
and simmer on medium-low for an hour and a half until vegetables and chicken
are soft. Strain. Keeps in the fridge for 3 days, or freeze in 1 cup
measurements. Season with salt & pepper to taste before using, if desired.
Recipes ©2004 Randi Reed
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