Chicken Wiings

Like I have said before, I'm not really a fan of meat on the bone for some reason. Chicken on the bone is my least favorite. But, I do love me some chicken wings. I also happen to make them pretty well.

We usually end up getting a family pack of wings to cook. Kevin also loves chicken wings. When you open th chicken, make sure you look over your chicken to see if there is any feathers or stuff to clean and pull off the wing, that part is kinda yuck.

The seasoning for this recipe is really easy. For me, simplicity usually makes food taste better. Dishes start tasting weird when I add more "stuff". I just use salt and lemon pepper. I don't measure the spices, I just add enough to make the wings well coated.

I preheat the oven to 450 degrees. I like cooking my chicken at a really high temperature first and then finishing it at a lower temperature. This makes the skin nice and crispy. I put the chicken in the 450 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Then I turn the oven down to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes. Then i add on the barbecue sauce. I have yet to master making my own sauce. I want to make my own, and I will, soon. But, since I haven't, my favorite store bought sauce is Bulls-eye. They have a Texas style described as, "Smoky mesquite with the sting of hot peppers". That just sounded too good to pass up. You can of course use your favorite BBQ sauce.

So after 30 minutes I poured half the bottle over 2/3 of the wings. Kevin said he'd had barbecue chicken earlier and didn't want sauce on his (he later said he should have had me put sauce on all the wings because the sauce was so good. He really does need to start listening to me). I put them back in the oven at the same temperature for a final 30 minutes.

It sounds really simple, but it is very good.

Recipe:

5.34 lbs. chicken wings

about 1/4 cup lemon pepper seasoning

2 tbsp. kosher salt

1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sprinkle half of lemon pepper and salt on the wings after opening. Place the chicken wings in a dish, seasoned side down, big enough to lay each wing almost flat. Cover with rest of seasoning. Put wings in oven for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees. Leave chicken in for another 30 minutes. Take out wings and cover in barbecue sauce. Put back in oven for another 30 minutes. Take out of oven!

Arroz con What-o?

Ingredients

My sister-in-law makes this really delicious rice. About a month ago, I called and she told me how she makes it. Kevin, my husband, says it's basically like spanish rice. Okay, that's fine, it just tastes really good. So I was thinking about what I could make for dinner and remembered the huge package of chicken thighs we had in the freezer.
As I thought about it, I wondered if I could make the spanish rice and cook the chicken with it, making some sort of rice & chicken thing. So I called Kevin and asked him what he thought. I usually run my ideas by him to see if they sound like they will be edible. He does have to eat it, too.
"Oh, like arroz con pollo?" he asked in a kind of smart mouth tone.
"Um, no. Like that Spanish rice with the chicken thighs." I said, just as smart.
"Arroz con pollo. Chicken with rice?"
"Oh...I guess so."
Arroz con pollo sounds so fancy. I mean, I know I'm K. Gourmet and all, but I'm not ready to get as gourmet as arroz con pollo sounds. And that's one of my husband's favorite dishes, I didn't want to mess it up. So, right off the bat, I was nervous.

I started off by browning the chicken. Since I was going to cook it with the uncooked rice I figured I should put some flavor into the chicken before I boiled it. I opened the chicken and seasoned the up side of the chicken with salt, pepper, and cumin (picture 1 & 2). I put the thighs in the skillet, season side down, and seasoned the other side.I browned both sides of the chicken thighs until the were a light golden brown (picture 3 & 4).


While I browned the chicken I heated about 1/4 cup of olive oil in a dutch oven.  When the oil got hot I added one onion, 2 tsp. of garlic powder, 3 tsp. of cumin, 1 tbsp. of salt, 2 tsp. of pepper, 2 packets of Sazón with Azafrán, and half of a 12 oz container of sofrito (picture 5). That should be done cooking and blooming the spices as the chicken gets browned. Add the chicken to the dutch oven. Then add one can of chicken broth. Wait till the broth starts to boil, then add the whole 16 oz. package of rice. Then add the second can of broth. My pot got really full after this, but try to get all the rice in the broth(pictures 6 & 7). I also added about half a can of water.  Let the liquid come to a boil. Then reduce the heat and cover the pot (picture 8). Let simmer, covered for about 45 minutes. Stir after about 20 minutes so the rice doesn't stick and burn at the bottom of the pot.


This dish is so good! The rice is yummy and the chicken is fall-off-the-bone delicious!

When I call Kevin to tell him how good a dish I just made is, now he asks me if it's K. Gourmet good. And then this dish he said I couldn't post because I used 2 Sazón packets. I just rolled my eyes and said of course I could! The Sazón with Azafrán is the Sazón with saffron in it, that's what turns the rice a slightly yellow tint. Here, in NYC, they sell the Sazón spices and sofrito in the regular grocery store. I know in the small town where I'm from in Missouri you have to go to a special Spanish grocery store to purchase it. It is worth it! You can also make your own spice blend or sofrito. I know there are tons of sofrito recipes out there.


So here is my recipe for my Arroz con Pollo:


Family pack of chicken thighs (about 10)
Salt
Pepper
2 tbsp. Cumin
1/4 cup olive oil
1 small onion
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. pepper
2 packets of Sazón with Azafrán
6 oz. sofrito
2 14.5 oz. cans of chicken broth
1/2 can of water
16 oz. of white rice


Season both sides of chicken with salt, pepper, and 2 tbsp. of cumin and brown in a skillet. While chicken is browning, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a dutch oven. Add the small onion, garlic powder, 3 tbsp. of cumin, 1 tbsp. of salt, 2 tsp. of pepper, 2 seasoning packets, and sofrito. Cook until chicken is browned. Add chicken to dutch oven. Add one can of broth. Let broth and chicken come to a boil. Add rice. Add second can of broth. Stir slightly so all rice is in broth. Let mixture come to a boil again. Reduce heat and cover. Let simmer, covered for 45 minutes, or until rice is tender. Stir occasionally.

Crispy Skin is Good Skin

So about a month ago I bought what I thought was a whole chicken for roasting. Every once in a while my dad liked to roast a chicken and it always turned out really good, so I like to do that every so often. We were cleaning out the freezer and I saw it and put it in the fridge to thaw so I could make it. I took it out last night to make for dinner and it was a whole chicken, but for frying not roasting. This means it wasn't a little chicken turkey it was 4 leg/thighs thing. Oh well, Kevin says I'm an innovator, so we'll go with that.
I decided just to roast it in the oven the same way I was going to roast an entire chicken.

I cut up about 7 potatoes (Kevin said he really wanted potatoes..), 4 stalks of celery, 1 small onion, and threw in a handful of fresh thyme. I used this as a bed for my chicken. I also salted and peppered the "bed" to give it lots of flavor. I also liberally put salt and pepper all over the chicken.

I melted the stick of butter and about 1 cup of honey together in the microwave.  I mixed the two together with my pastry brush and proceeded to baste on that honey goodness. I basted it again after 20 minutes and then 40 minutes later and then the last 15 minutes of roasting.

I preheated the oven to 450 degrees and put the chicken in there for 20 minutes. I did thid so it would get a nice brown, crispy skin. Then I turned the oven down to 350 degrees and finished cooking it for 2 hours.

This is how it looked when finished:

The skin was sooooooo crispy and good! Now, if I had the whole chicken like I thought I would've, the potatoes would still have been a bed under the chicken.  The celery, onion, and thyme would have gone into the chicken's cavity to give it flavor from the inside out. The basting would have been the same. Here is the recipe for what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken
• 5 stalks of celery
• 7 potatoes
• 1 small onion
• handful of thyme
• salt
• pepper
• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup honey

Pre heat your oven to 450 degrees.  Cut up you veggies and lay them evenly in a baking dish. Put about 5 of the thyme sprigs around the top of your chicken "bed" and flavor with salt and pepper. Lay the chicken in the pan so as much of the skin is exposed to the heat as possible. Melt the stick of butter with the honey in the microwave or on the stove. Then baste 1/4 of the mixture on to the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and peeper. Lay the rest of the thyme on the top of the chicken. Put into the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn oven down to 350 degrees. Baste chicken again with 1/4 more of the butter-honey mixture. After 40 minutes in the oven, baste again with 1/4 of the butter-honey. In 65 minutes, baste with the rest of the honey-butter. In 15 minutes, remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving.  Enjoy your chicken!