A quick note before we get to today’s recipe: If you read yesterday’s post about the amazing cauliflower, you’ll recall that I said my friend, Ronnie had the dish at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans. Ronnie sent me a fabulous photo of the hotel lobby all decked out for Christmas. It’s a must-see, so I’ve added it to the bottom of that post, for all to enjoy. Check it out!

So… I heard about an amazing snack that is served at a bar in Brooklyn. The bar is called Pork Slope and the appetizer  – Is chicken & Waffle Sliders. How perfect would that have been for the Super Bowl?!?

Via

Dang it. Oh well, you know what I did? I served it as our Official Olympics Opening Ceremony Snack. Yeah, take that lopsided 2014 Super Bowl! You were not worthy of these Olympic sliders!

I found a recipe online, changed it just a tad… and …. it was a major hit with my two guys.

A quick word about the frozen waffles. The recipe I found called for Aunt Jemima’s frozen square waffles. I could not find Aunt Jemima waffles at my grocery store, nor could I find square waffles. Belgium waffles – that was all they had in any and all brands. The closest thing to a square that I was able to find were octagonal waffles.

What you want to use for each slider is four squares of a waffle for the top “bun” and another four square piece for the bottom “bun.”  Here is what I did.

Take a waffle.

Cut 3 “four square” pieces from each waffle.

A package of 6 frozen octagonal waffles yielded 9 sliders. Here’s the math:

6 waffles = 18 “buns” = 9 sliders

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San Tung is that restaurant in San Francisco that Marissa and I have to eat at the night I arrive in San Francisco each and every time I visit her. It serves the famous “dry-fried” chicken wings that we crave and love.

I desperately wanted to make them for the family on Super Bowl Sunday.

After much online research and some trial and error, I have the recipe for you to make at home!

You’re going to need a large pot, Dutch oven, or preferably a deep fryer. If using a pot, you’ll also need a candy thermometer. Plus, you’ll need a couple of big bowls, wire racks, paper towels, and a baking sheet.

If you’re like me, you like your wings cut into two pieces, the drumette, and the wing.

When cutting the wings in half, just cut through the skin, then bend the wing so you see where the joint is and cut right through the joint.

It’s easy once you find the joint and don’t try cutting through the bone. Then cut off the wing tip, there is a joint there too.

Save and freeze the tips for the next time you make chicken stock.

This recipe makes about 60 wings (30 wings cut in half) and it takes over an hour and a half to fry them all – twice. The recipe can easily be cut in half.

OK, let’s get started…

Homemade San Tung “Dry-Fried” Chicken Wings

Sweet and Spicy Sticky Sauce
1 bunch green onions, minced (green and white parts)
1 small bunch cilantro, minced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1  1/2 cups honey or agave nectar
3/4 cup water
1 head garlic, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Szechuan chili sauce

Wings
8 pounds chicken wings
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 cups canola oil
2 cups cornstarch, divided
1  1/2 cups water

Sauce: Mix together the green onions and cilantro. Divide in half, place half in a small bowl, cover, and refrigerate.

Place the other half in a large bowl and…

…whisk in the remaining sauce ingredients.

Pour the sauce into a large skillet and simmer for 10 minutes until thickened.

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I served this dip on New Year’s Eve. It is my version of a recipe from the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.

It is good!

It may not be the prettiest thing ever, but what do you expect? It’s bean dip!

If eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is lucky, then it must be lucky the other 364 days of the year too.

Plus you only need to use and wash 2 measuring cups, a bowl, a fork, and a baking dish to make and serve it. Lucky … and as easy as can be.

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I served this appetizer at the Christmas Craft Party and I’ll be bringing it to a family Christmas party next this weekend. (I think I may be in denial that Christmas is a week from Today!)

It is chicken nachos, minus the chips!

In the place of chips are those adorable mini bell peppers you can find in most grocery stores and always at Costco.

I was in a super time-crunch for the craft party so I used a new product I found at Costco, rotisserie chicken breast meat. It came in a 2 1/2 pound package, I pulled out what I needed, and froze the rest.

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A couple of weekends ago, we had dear friends over for an intimate dinner party. There were just four of us and it could not have been a more lovely and relaxing evening.

Both the husband and the wife of this chic and well-traveled couple are fabulous cooks – so obviously I wasn’t planning on serving them hot dogs and baked beans.

At first, I was thinking of French cuisine. Maybe Italian … or what about Spanish?

Oh, forget it, I’ll just do a bit of everything. From that, my Eclectic European Dinner Party was born.

I’ll be posting a different recipe from the menu- including appetizers, cocktails, soup, salad, and main course – each day this week.

First up: Antipasto Numero Uno….

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I hate to always brag, but I live in the greatest neighborhood. Oh, how I do love and appreciate my neighbors!

Along with our Amazing Progressive Dinner Parties, we have fun monthly Bunco nights. Unfortunately, I only make it a couple of times a year, since they usually fall on the night that I’m working at Les Gourmettes Cooking School.

Happily, I was able to attend last week. It was so nice catching up with everyone after the long hot summer. NOT that the Long Hot Summer is anywhere near over, but families are back in town and the kids are back in school so that “summer” is over.

Players bring an appetizer, salad, dessert, or drink to share. I brought these tasty little treats.

By the way – did you know that string cheese freezes great? It doesn’t change the texture at all.

I suppose that proves it’s not exactly real cheese, but it sure did come in handy when I pulled what I had left, from some that I had bought for Connor, out of the freezer.

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This is the fourth and final tapas recipe from Peggy’s dinner party. But before I share it with you, I nearly forgot to mention that I brought a Stone Fruit Crumble for dessert.

This time around, I used plumcots in place of the apricots and plums. Have you tried plumcots before?

If not, be sure to search them out and give them a go. They are not only tasty … but so very pretty too.

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We had a surprise addition to the Tapas Dinner Party when Peggy’s 17-year-old son, Stevo, came home a day earlier than she expected from a week-long camping trip in Yosemite National Park.

While Peggy busy was cooking for us, I was able to snap this cute photo of the two of them.

Thank you, Peggy, for such a fun and relaxing night.

This recipe is super easy and superbly delicious. It will disappear before your very eyes!

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The tasty little ricotta stuffed pepper on the plate above is the recipe we’re going to make today from Peggy’s Tapas Dinner party.

The mini sweet peppers are readily available in most grocery stores, at Trader Joe’s and at Costco.

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