Guinness Glazed Chicken Wings for St. Patrick's Day

We are heading out to our neighbors' house for our annual St. Patty's Day corned beef and cabbage dinner. Our part of dinner consists of the appetizer and the dessert, so we have today's post as well as tomorrow's post all set and ready to go. Read on!

Today, we bring you the appetizer: Guinness Glazed Chicken Wings. These little lovelies get their flavor from a mix of root vegetables and a can of Guinness, Ireland's popular dark stout. Reducing this gravy-of-sorts turns it into a nice glaze to brush on the wings right before broiling and serving. 

The rest of the meal was equally delish. Corned beef with cabbage, carrots, turnips and potatoes, with roasted vegetables, and mashers. Our ancestors would be proud!  (Check out the photos below!) 

And, of course, tune in tomorrow to find out what we had for dessert.

Guinness Glazed Chicken Wings

adapted from this recipe at Little Shamrocks

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 pounds chicken wings, butchered into blades and drums

1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and quartered

1 carrot, peeled and quartered

1 parsnip, peeled and quartered

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 can Guinness Stout

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sweat for 2-3 minutes. Remove onion and garlic with a slotted spoon. Season wings with salt and pepper. Add chicken wings to the pan and cook, about 5 minutes each side, until nicely browned. Return onion and garlic to the pan and add ginger, carrot, parsnip and thyme. Pour Guinness into the pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken wings from the pan and place on a baking sheet. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve; discard vegetables. Pour sauce into a small saucepan and boil over high heat until reduced by half. When ready to serve, heat broiler on low. Brush wings with glaze and broil for 5-6 minutes; turn, baste and broil other side 4-5 minutes. Eat with a freshly poured Guinness to wash them down - Slainte!

Today Was a Good Day for ACK

Today was a good day for A Couple in the Kitchen (aka ACK) and we wanted to share it with all of you.

First, we received a very nice comment from Lillian of My Recipe Journey nominating us for the Liebster Award. Lillian has a post about the award on her website that you can check out. We also did a little research ourselves and found out that the Liebster Award has been circulating for a few years now and it is awarded from one blogger to another to let them know they are "liebster" - German for "beloved." While Lillian's version of the award came with some tasks, we found a loophole during our search that allows one to accept an honorary version without doing the tasks. Since we teachers have enough tasks to complete, and we like our blogging tasks to be food-related, we're going with the loophole. Thank you so much, Lillian, for thinking of us. We are honored!!!

Next, we got an email from the Blogger Outreach Program at OXO and they are going to be sending us some egg tools to try out and review. Just in time for Easter (although we wish we had that egg separator when we made that Meyer lemon curd!)!!! So that's something to look forward to.

And finally, we had entered our Moonshine Sticky Wings recipe into a recipe contest and found out today that we won an Editor's Choice award (which, happily, also happens to come with a little bit of prize money!). The contest was called "Stick a Fork in It" for SplashPad Mobile's new Android app "Top Recipes." You can get the app here if you are interested! Look for our recipe, which is designated by this special ribbon:

So, yeah! It was a good day for ACK!!! Time to uncork a bottle of vino and celebrate!

Wordless Weekender: Daffy Duck Appetizer, Sakura Garden, South Windsor CT

Meyer Lemon Curd

Amy writes:

So a couple of weeks ago we took a baking class called Baking for English Tea, and one of the recipes we learned to make was lemon curd. Then Chris went away for the weekend, off to a theoretical physics conference in Santa Barbara, California. Yeah, I don't really know what that is, either. 

Anyway... I was feeling a little bored, and I knew that if I made something yummy, I could bring it to the last winter farmers' market and enter it into the swap for something else. I had a bunch of Meyer lemons at home, so I decided to make a batch of Meyer lemon curd. The recipe made enough for 2 decent-sized jars, so I kept one for myself (well, I may share it with Mr. Science) and brought one to the swap where I swapped it for a pretty little dragonfly made from recycled silverware (Thanks, Ed)! Love it!

So, as hinted at in an earlier post, here's the recipe for Meyer lemon curd. The recipe is from Chef Chris French, who makes his with "normal" lemons, but there is something I just love about the hint of sweetness the Meyer lemon offers. If you like things a little more tart, use regular lemons but add another 2 tablespoons of sugar.

Meyer Lemon Curd

recipe courtesy of Chef Chris French

Ingredients:

5 Meyer lemons, zested and juiced

8 egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pats

Whisk the lemon zest, lemon juice, egg yolks and sugar together in a stainless steel bowl. Create a double-boiler by placing the bowl over a sauce pan with simmering water. Gently heat the contents of the bowl on low to medium heat, stirring frequently. Continue to heat until the mixture is very thick and reaches 180-185 degrees. Immediately remove the bowl from the pan and pour the contents through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest and any egg solids (discard those). Immediately put 2 pats of butter into the lemon curd and whisk in until incorporated. Continue by adding 1 pat at a time, whisking until incorporated before adding the next. Cover with plastic wrap in contact with the lemon curd and refrigerate until set, 4 hours or longer. Serve with scones as a spread or to fill mini tarts, or as a topping on shortbread. 

Cooking Class: Baking for English Tea

A couple of weekends ago, we took another baking class at Manchester Community College (our local community college, well-known for its culinary program). This one was with the same instructor (Chris French) as the pizza and focaccia class. Obviously we were so pleased with the first class, we had to sign up for another, and obviously, our baking skills could use some work.

Chef Chris French at his demo station

This class was called, "Baking for English Tea," and it started off with some clarification about English tea, mainly that what people often refer to as "high tea" is actually a less formal, dinner-type setting whereas a tea at which there might be sweets and pastries is traditionally the more formal "afternoon tea." Who knew? The class would focus on the latter, with the goals being to learn and participate in making scones, shortbread, and cream puffs, and to learn via demonstration how to make lemon curd, Devonshire cream, pastry cream and an English trifle. Quite ambitious, but we had five hours together, so we forged ahead.

Amy tried "rub method mixing"

Scone dough

Amy's partner forms our scones

Chris tops his scones with some sanding sugar

First we watched as Chef Chris demonstrated and explained how to make scones, and then we paired up and made our own scones with cranberries and walnuts. The most important thing with this recipe was that we hand mixed the scones, learning how to rub the butter in by hand, which is not as easy as it sounds, but definitely leads to better results. We could choose whether to bake our scones during class or take home the dough to freeze, but since we are "A Couple in the Kitchen," we were able to do both. The scones were fluffier and lighter than we've had in the past, thanks to the hand-mixing method we guess, and we would certainly try the recipe again. When we do, we'll share it with you.

Amy slices her golden-brown shortbread

Next thing we did was make shortbread. Now we have tried shortbread in the past, with relative success, but ours simply does not compare to the buttery crisp amazing cookie we learned in this class. We look forward to topping a sheet of these with some homemade jam or lemon curd and making delicious bars to share with the neighborhood!!!

Making pate a choux

Everyone got a chance to try to pipe the pate a choux dough

Delicious cream puff!

Pate a choux (cream puff dough) we are well familiar with, thanks to Dorie Greenspan and her gorgeous gougere recipe. But we learned a few tips on how to improve our technique, such as using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, getting a good sheen on the dough by adding in an extra egg, and piping the dough when it's warm and fresh. 

Chocolate Croissants

The scones had been set aside to eat later along with the various curds and creams, and everything else was in the oven. Luckily, Chef Chris was thoughtful enough to bring in some of his homemade chocolate croissants for us to nibble on in the meantime. Just look at these beauties!

Lemon curd, mock Devon cream, whipped cream

The reward for a hard day's work

When the hands-on part of the class was done, we fixed tea and sipped while Chef demonstrated his recipes for pastry cream, lemon curd, and "mock" Devon cream (aka clotted cream). The real Devonshire cream runs for about $7 for a small 4-ounce jar, if you can even find it. Chef's mock version can be made in about 10 minutes and costs a fraction of real Devonshire cream. Here's what you do:

Mock Devon Cream 

recipe courtesy of Chef Chris French

Ingredients:

3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cream cheese, cold

1 cup heavy cream, cold

Using a stand mixer with the whip attachment, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth and lump-free. Add the cream and beat until stiff. Chill before serving. 

A beautiful English trifle

Finally, we tried all of these goodies while watching Chef assemble a beautiful English trifle. We met some great people, had a fun day, and learned plenty of new tricks and tips to help up become better bakers. These recipes would be perfect for Easter, Mother's Day, or just for hosting your own English tea! Once we try any of these things at home, we will be sure to let you know. 

If you are interested in taking a credit-free culinary class at MCC, here is a link to the credit-free catalog. 

Seared Scallops with Blood Orange Gastrique (a stream of consciousness "recipe")

Are those blood oranges in your grocery store? They have been carrying a wider range of products lately. Ooh, what could you do with them? Doesn't matter. They're here. Buy a few and figure it out tomorrow.

A couple of days have passed. Those blood oranges are just sitting there taunting you. But they sure are beautiful. They look like they're blushing. They're just embarrassed oranges.  Wonder what they're embarrassed about.

Why don't you make a gastrique? That sounds fancy. Everyone seems to be doing it. Except for those poor people on Worst Cooks in America. Actually, even they're making a gastrique. Wait. What exactly is a gastrique?

Google gastrique. Huh. Sugar, vinegar and flavoring, like, say, juice. Bet no one has ever made one with blood oranges before. 

Google blood orange gastrique. Okay. So you're not the amazingly creative culinary genius you think you are. But at least now you know how to make a gastrique. And even though everyone is serving it with scallops, that sounds really good so you should do that too.

$16.99 a pound?!?!? Good God! What's in those scallops? Gold nuggets? 

$3.00 off a pound with a silver coin, eh? That's still expensive, but they look really nice. You haven't had scallops in a while. And you're worth it. And the tax refund came today. Splurge on a pound. And get something green to go with. You haven't eaten anything green in a while. And no, the leeks you drenched in cheese don't count. Not brussels sprout - those are gross. How about snow peas? That could work. And maybe some tarragon. Don't people like tarragon with seafood?

Make the gastrique. Emeril's recipe seems pretty easy. Do that one. Got some freshly squeezed blood orange juice, sugar, rice wine vinegar. Oh yeah, baby, you're making gastrique. You are the gastrique queen. Gastrique. Gastrique. What a weird word.

Blanche the snap peas. Quick quick! Get them out! How about a few blood orange segments tossed with them, like a little salad or something? Yeah! Salad! That's healthy!

Now the scallops. Heat the pan. A non-stick pan. A little olive oil. Smokin' hot! Season the scallops with a little kosher salt. Sear the scallops. Don't try to turn them until they stopped sticking - have you learned nothing from all those episodes of Hell's Kitchen?!?!? Okay, now you can turn them. Nice, brown, yummy scallops. You could be on Hell's Kitchen. No...Gordon Ramsay would make you cry.

Make the plate look pretty. Green, orange, and it's not even St. Patrick's Day yet! Drizzle on the gastrique. Awww...what a pretty dinner. Take a few pictures. 

Now taste it. 

Oh yeah. That's yummy.