Recipe: Bourbon Wings!

Here are the Bourbon Wings, roughly as prepared on Wednesday's show.  The method for cooking the wings comes from Alton Brown, and the sauce is based on this one from the Food Network.

SAUCE
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 an onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup spicy brown mustard
3/4 cup peach preserves (I like the Simply Fruit kind)
1-2 tsp red pepper flake (or 1 tbsp hot sauce)
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons bourbon
salt & pepper

Saute the onion in the butter until it's translucent.  Add the garlic and cook until you smell garlic, not more than a minute.  Add the cider vinegar, stir to deglaze the pan (if necessary), and let it cook down to about 1/2 its volume.  Then add the mustard, preserves, RPF, and 1/3 cup of bourbon.  Cook until it's thick and glazy, about 10 minutes.  Let it cool for a few minutes and add the extra bourbon.  (This makes more than you need, which is great because it's good on just about anything.)

WINGS
30 chicken wing sections (I buy them frozen)
salt, pepper

Lay the wings out in a single layer in a metal colander.  Boil three inches of water in a large pot.  Put the colander over the rapidly boiling water and steam the wings for 10 minutes (or up to 15 if still mostly frozen).  Line a sheet pan with paper towels, put in a rack, and put the wings on the rack.  Let them rest for 15-20 minutes on the counter or an hour in the fridge.

Replace the paper towels with parchment.  Season the wings and put them in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Take them out and toss them a few at a time in your sauce, then return them to the rack.  Return the pan to the oven for 20 more minutes, or until the wings are nice and brown.

Serve with extra sauce and plenty of paper towels.

Recipe: Roasted Rosemary Nuts

2 cups mixed nuts, such as cashews, walnuts, and pecans
1/2 stick butter
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
Coarse salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roast nuts on a baking sheet for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. In a large skillet over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, and rosemary . Add nuts and stir until butter mixture is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and spread nuts out to cool. Toss occasionally as they cool.

My thinking is that these would be awesome crumbled over ice cream but I've yet to try it.

Recipe: Tricia's Ultimate Grilled Cheese

French baguette
Fontina, sliced very thin
Gouda, sliced very thin
Havarti, sliced very thin
herb butter, softened to room temperature

Cut baguette into thin slices. Spread herb butter sparingly onto 1 side of each piece of bread. Layer 3 slices cheese between the bread and pan fry over medium low heat until cheese is melted and bread is crispy and browned. If you're cooking for a few, it's actually much easier to make these under the broiler, turning once.

Recipe: Herb Butter

1 stick butter, softened

1 clove garlic, crushed or 1/4 tsp garlic powder

2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese

1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 fresh ground black pepper

pinch rosemary

pinch salt

dash cayenne pepper flakes

dash parsley

Mix all ingredients well and refrigerate for up to 2 months. But it doesn't last that long.

Use for grilled cheeses, baked garlic bread, spread on a hunk of bread, on corn, baked potatoes, to saute veggies, on steak, the buttery possibilities are endless. Mmmmmm.

Recipe: Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup

As prepared on tonight's show!

Spicy Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup
Adapted from Live To Cook by Michael Symon.  Hat tip to The Amateur Gourmet for bringing it my way.

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
Kosher salt
6 small garlic cloves, sliced
1 28-oz can Muir Glen fire-roasted tomatoes, with their juice
1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
3/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sriracha sauce (or to taste)
3/4 cup blue cheese (give or take)
Salt, pepper

Sweat the onion in olive oil with a pinch of salt over low heat for 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes or so, then add the chicken stock, tomatoes, Sriacha, more salt and pepper, and the cream.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or so without vigorously boiling.

Add the blue cheese and blend it up in a blender or with a stick blender until uniform.  Adjust the seasonings.  Pour it through a strainer if you like, but I never have.

Serve with warm, crusty bread.  This is essential.

Recipe - Bev's Famous Peach Thing

White bread
Butter, melted
Peach preserves
Eggs
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Heavy whipping cream

The amount of each ingredient will depend on how many you want to feed and the size of your casserole dish. It’s pretty easy to figure out as you go along. Mine turned out great the first time I ever tried to make it. Give it a try!
Cut crusts off three pieces of white bread. Brush each slice with butter and top with preserves. Stack the 3 prepared slices, first two preserves up and top one facing down. Cut into quarters. Place in casserole dish. Brush butter on top. Repeat until casserole dish is full. Mix eggs, a little brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over the top of the stacks being sure to saturate the top of each one. The egg mixture should come about ¾ of the way up the side of the stacks. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, bake on 350 for 35-45 minutes until slightly browned. While it’s baking, make the syrup. Melt butter; add peach preserves and brown sugar. Stir until melted. Add heavy whipping cream and allow to thicken about 20 minutes over medium low heat. Pour over individual servings of Peach Thing.

WCN! 12/2/09: Christmas Brunch!

Tonight, on the world's only live radio cooking show (that we know of): Christmas Brunch!

It's Christmas morning. The kids got everybody up at 4:30 to see what Santa Claus brought, the house is covered with wrapping paper, and it's hours until dinner time. Why not invite everybody over for a Christmas morning brunch?

We'll show you some dishes that you can make ahead of time, so that even if you were up all night putting that damn bicycle together you can lay out a fine spread. We'll also talk about some potent potables that will make even your most annoying relatives tolerable.

That's Wednesday, December 2, 6-7PM, on 88.7 WMMT-FM in Whitesburg, KY. Stream it at http://www.wmmtfm.org

Don't miss it!