Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing: To make amends

To my one true love (and only one)

Husband rarely, if ever, reads my blog.  He reads the posts I specifically tell him to read, usually about the work in Haiti, or if I needed him to vote for me in the blog competition.  He doesn't really need to read it.  He eats the food that appears on the blog and knows what is happening in my life, almost too well, so a read through my blog isn't really on his list of his priorities.  I'm fine with it.

So the other day when talking to him while he was at work, he suddenly cleared his throat and asked, "So, what's with the Tyler Florence thing?"

I went blank for a moment and couldn't figure out to what he was referring.  "What are you talking about? I don't know what you mean."

Again, with another clear of his throat he said, "You know, about how much you like him."

And it came flashing back to me - the birthday post I wrote about how much I liked him to the post of possibly even offering to bear his children if I fainted in his arms and woke up.   "You read my blog?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes.  I wanted to read it so I read it and THAT is the first thing I read," he said with a bit of sharpness.

"Oh honey - you know - that is just writing with humor, to make things funny.  Exaggeration.  Hyperbole.  You know, sarcasm!  It's supposed to be funny!  Are you upset?"

"I'm not really, except it did really appear to me that you like the guy a lot.  He's not even Korean!  Or all that handsome!"

I giggled and laughed with him and the moment was over.

I thought I'd make it up to him by writing a post about something from Tyler's book, without gushing over Tyler and a dish that Husband would love - chicken wings.  Tyler Florence, in his new book Tyler Florence Family Meal: Bringing People Together Never Tasted Better, has a version of chicken wings that kept on drawing me back to it, over and over again, studying the recipe and trying to figure out how I could make it a bit more simple and easy.  I decided to take a run at it and made it twice in two days.  (Dinner one night, lunch the following day.)  I tried two different ways of presenting the chicken wings, and unanimously it was agreed that the chicken was really delicious and the dipping sauce really outstanding.   I can talk about a great dish by Tyler Florence without any reference to how much I just really admire him.  (Husband, if you are reading this - it's less about how he looks and more his message about food and feeding others that draws my admiration.)

This dish is overwhelmingly simple in preparation but does take a bit of time in the oven.  You'll like these and so will your family, as they aren't too spicy, and you can even do the Tabasco oil on the side.

**As a note, I did definitely prefer the separated wing and drummette over the whole version recommended by Tyler.  I felt the wing cooked better, was easier to eat, and looked prettier on the plate, but you can try out both versions yourself.

Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings
Adapted from Tyler Florence Family Meal: Bringing People Together Never Tasted Better
Serves 4-6

Chicken
3 pounds chicken wings, left whole OR cut, tips discarded and wing and drummette separated
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Toss chicken wings with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Spread wings on baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes, or until they are crispy and golden brown.

Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped chives
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (Tyler uses Humboldt Fog)
Salt and Pepper

Whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, chives in a medium bowl. Gently stir in the crumbled blue cheese and season with salt and pepper. (Season well, as this will be one of your sources for salt flavor.)

Tabasco Oil
3 tablespoons tabasco
2 tablespoons olive oil

In a small bowl, whisk tabasco and olive oil together.

Assembly
Prepare dressing in a separate bowl. Lay out chicken on a serving dish and drizzle oil over. Alternatively serve oil on the side and allow guests to drizzle what they like. Serve with celery sticks or carrot sticks (to help finish off delicious dipping sauce)

Printable recipe

A tasty peace offering.