Wings and French Fries

When I mentioned that Aaron has been cooking a lot, he’s also been cooking from Alton Brown’s recipes a lot. I’m a huge Alton Brown fan (I think I’ve mentioned that before) and I’m glad Aaron is too. This dinner Aaron made was fantastic. I’m not normally into wings, but these were some of the best I’ve ever had. Thanks Aaron (and Alton, whose original recipe is here.)

Buffalo Wings modified from Good Eats:

Serves 2 for dinner

12 chicken wings
3 oz. unsalted butter
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and julienned
Olive oil
Paprika
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper
Hot sauce
Apricot BBQ sauce
Chopped garlic (a few cloves)

Place a 6-quart saucepan with a steamer basket and 1-inch of water in the bottom, over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Aaron said that because we don’t have a steamer basket, he used a mini colander over the pot.

Remove the tips of the wings and discard or save for making stock. Using kitchen shears, or a knife, separate the wings at the joint. Place the wings into the steamer basket, cover, reduce the heat to medium and steam for 10 minutes. Remove the wings from the basket and carefully pat dry. Lay the wings out on a cooling rack set in a half sheet pan lined with paper towels and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the fries. In a large bowl, add julienned potatoes and coat with olive oil. Add paprika, salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine. Place these on a baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 20 minutes. Turn the wings over and cook another 20 minutes or until meat is cooked through and the skin is golden brown. Bake fries along with the wings. Aaron said they took about the same amount of time.

While the chicken is roasting, melt the butter in a small bowl along with the garlic. Pour this along with hot sauce and salt into a bowl large enough to hold half of the chicken and stir to combine. Mix the apricot BBQ sauce (which tastes only like apricot and not like BBQ so I liked it) with the chopped garlic.





Remove the wings from the oven and transfer half to each of the bowls and toss with the sauces. Serve warm with the fries.

The fries were crisp and warm and delicious. I love when a fry is both crispy and potato-y soft on the inside. The wings were super crisp and yummy. I was sad when we ran out. Like I said, I’m not normally much of a wings person, so that should tell you how good these are.