Profumo Profondo

This is a messy dish to eat, but so yummy. Serve it with plain rice and maybe some steamed veggies to make a meal, or alone as an appetizer or party food.

Ingredients:
15 chicken wings, trimmed into pieces
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use the reduced sodium version)
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup warm water
4 to 6 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce (optional, or add more if you like the heat!)

Preparation:

Whisk the soy, water, and honey in a small bowl until the honey is completely dissolved. (Warm water helps the honey dissolve faster.)

Put a large frying pan (or a wok if you have one) on medium-high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and ginger and cook for about 15 seconds. Add the wings and cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken skin starts to brown.

Pour in the bowl of liquids and the hot sauce, and turn the heat down to medium-low. Cover and cook roughly 30 minutes, or until the meat on the wings has cooked through. Stir occasionally.

When the chicken is cooked, you’ll want to reduce the sauce down to a glaze. Turn the heat back up to high and cook until the sauce has thickened down to a glaze. You’ll want to stir frequently to make sure nothing burns.

Get a pile of napkins out, serve, and enjoy!

Notes & Substitutions:

• Powdered garlic and ginger are not good substitutes for fresh. You can skip the ginger entirely if you don’t have fresh, but don’t try substituting powered garlic for the real thing in this dish. It will taste like crap.
• We often buy whole wings and trim them down to component pieces to save money. The inedible wing tips can be saved and frozen, they are fantastic for making chicken stock.

Cornbread and Sage Stuffing

I originally found this dressing recipe on, of all places, the now-defunct webvan.com site back in the fall of 2000, when Scott and I were getting ready to cook our first big Thanksgiving dinner. I’ve made it pretty much every year since then, although I’ve tweaked it a little over the years to suit my tastes. It’s tasty and not at all difficult; the biggest challenge is the prep time, which can take a while with all the chopping and bread drying.

Ingredients:

1 9″ x 9″ cornbread
1 16-ounce loaf sourdough bread
2 cups diced bacon
1 cup diced onion
1 cup shredded carrot
2 tablespoons thinly-sliced fresh sage
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup chicken stock

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut the cornbread and the sourdough bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Spread onto baking trays and bake for 15 minutes or until the bread has dried out. Set aside in a large mixing bowl.

Cook the bacon in a large frying pan over medium heat until it begins to crisp. Add onions. Cook until the onions soften and start to turn translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the carrots, sage, salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and cook an additional 10 minutes.

Add the stock and the half-and-half to the contents of the pan and stir. This dissipates the heat and breaks up the fat. Then pour the contents of the pan into the mixing bowl and gently mix with the bread cubes until the dressing is moist and well blended. I usually use my hands for this but a large wooden spoon is good too.

Put the mixture into a 13” x 9” x 2” greased baking pan. Cover with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the top is crispy.

Notes & Substitutions:

• Can be prepared one to two days before and reheated in the oven. Make sure the dressing has reached room temperature before reheating.
• Cubing and drying the bread can be done a day before and the bread kept, loosely covered, overnight. Use day-old bread for faster drying.
• If you want to add more turkey flavor, use turkey stock instead of chicken.
• Substitute 1 teaspoon dried sage for fresh sage if you can’t get fresh.
• Kosher alternative: use beef bacon instead of pork, and more stock to replace the half-and-half.

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