Suzi's Blog
Smoked Chipotle Baked Beans
Slow food versus fast food. Slow food versus very slow food. Long cooking times can enable flavors and textures that simply are not possible with a microwave, a deep fryer or a simple broiler. Here’s a perfect example. You start with cooked white beans, adorn them with a parade of additional flavors and let the combination bake away for hours. And the result? These are baked beans unlike anything you have ever had.
“More?” Brian asked me.
“I can make more,” I said. I watched the tears fall from his eyes and all I could think was: leverage!
Your husband, wife or partner will beg you for these beans. Do not give up this recipe or your control. Slow is good. Very slow is very good.
Made according to this recipe, the chipotle here adds smokiness but only modest heat. The sugar and molasses of course add sweetness but also a stickiness that appeals. This a great complement to chicken wings or burgers. You will truly enjoy this complex combination of flavors.
Smoked Chipotle Baked Beans
Serves: 4 to 6 modestly, 2 persons hungrily
Ingredients:
- One 16-ounce can cooked white beans
- ¼ cup chopped onion
- ¼ pound uncooked bacon, finely diced
- ¾ cup molasses
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 smoked, dried chipotle pepper, seeded and crushed
- 1 teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro.
Preparation:
Heat the oil in a fryer to 350°F.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the beans, onion, bacon, molasses, ketchup, brown sugar, chipotle, mustard, salt, Worcestershire, and cilantro. Mix well.
Transfer the mixture to a buttered 5- to 6-inch deep baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 4 hours. Check the beans every hour for moisture content. If they become too dry, add a little water.
Serve piping hot.
Source: Wings Across America by Armand Vandersitgchel
Cilantro Onion Chicken Wings
If I say “Chicken Wings” what comes to mind? Oh, Buffalo Chicken Wings. Deep red in color, fiery hot, and addicting. We have a favorite restaurant nearby in New York City, a place called Walkers with a classic tin ceiling, wonderful staff, and the best wings in New York. At the table next to us last week, a man ate an entire serving for two by himself with just a glass of water. And then he ordered a second plate. Brian and I left before they had to call 911. No man can endure such heat.
Next weekend is the greatest single party weekend of the year. It’s Super Bowl and around the country, around the world, people will gather to watch and to eat. Brian and I are having our traditional party and we are having wings. And, yes, there will be some wings with heat. But there is life beyond Buffalo.
And that’s a statement from someone who went to college in Buffalo and has oh-so-fond memories of winters there.
No, there many alternatives to “hot” wings. For a party, it’s a clever idea to have a wing smorgasbord, a variety of wings. Some hot for people like that guy in Walkers with the asbestos digestive system and some with other flavors that are truly enjoyable.
There is a little book, Wings Across America, by Armand Vandersitgchel — a distinctive name to be sure — that came out in 1999 in hardcover and then in 2003 in paperback. You can still find it at Amazon and tucked away in back shelves at book store. The book has 150 ideas for how to do wings, some classically hot and some very different:
- Ole Mole Wings with chocolate — for those with other addictions besides heat
- Ancho Fire Wings — for those who think Buffalo wings are for wimps
- Barrel Wings — named for using Jack Daniels whiskey which spends time in oak barrels
- Southwestern Peanut Wing — made with peanut butter, coconut milk, and chipotle
Brian is thumbing through the book, pointing, and I’m testing. As lovers of cilantro, this recipe for Onion Cilantro Wings struck both of us as interesting. We had no idea how it would turn out, and we ended up very pleased.
Here’s the essential idea: put cilantro and onion in a blender and create a thick, very, very green sauce. The sauce goes in a bowl, the wings go into the sauce to marinate for hours in the fridge, and then you cook. There’s just a little heat in this recipe. The wings are baked, not deep fried, which is a plus. Baking is healthier and much less mess.
And the taste? It’s wonderful. That cilantro flavor has time to penetrate way beyond the skin. It’s not overpowering, but the meat has a distinctive cilantro tinge. It’s a whole new way to wing it.
If you are partying soon and want to have a bevy of different wings, then this version is truly one to consider.
Cilantro Onion Wings
Yield: 20 wings
Ingredients:
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- ½ cup finely chopped red onion
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon hot sauce
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 20 trimmed and separated wings
Preparation:
In a food processor or blender, combine the onion, red onion, cilantro, salt, pepper, hot sauce, olive oil, lime and lemon juices, and sugar. Blend until pureed. Transfer with a rubber spatula to a large mixing bowl.
Add the wings, coating them thoroughly. Marinate in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°. With tongs, spread the wings evenly over a buttered 2-inch deep baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until brown and cooked through. Transfer to a platter and serve.
Source: Wings Across America by Armand Vandersitgchel
