February 15, 2021events

A Walk In the Rain, Tapas & Wine

We hosted our very first Saturday afternoon/evening event with a narrated-history tour given by Jim followed by tapas and wine at the Mill

It was a bit rainy, but our intrepid participants came ready to brave the weather. Armed with umbrellas, they headed out for almost an hour while Emma & I opened the wine to breathe and finished plating the tapas.

We made Vanilla-Lemon-Cumin Roasted Wings, Vanilla & Thyme Housemade Flatbread, Vanilla-Pepper-Onion Marmalade, Rib-Eye Nachos with Queso Fresco and all the fixings (fresh guacamole, salsa, vanilla-creme fraiche & chopped cilantro), roasted asparagus with vanilla oil cotija cheese, cucumber boast with feta and vanilla-red wine vinaigrette, browned vanilla-butter toasted Marcona almonds, feta stuffed dates wrapped with bacon and some beautiful olives to top it all off. Everything was very tasty, if I do say so myself

Everyone enjoyed themselves and toasted the evening.

We will be hosting one in March(either the 23 or the 30th) and would love to have you join us!

If you can’t be here, you can try these at home–everyone in my family said that these rival my Christmas Eve Hot Wings–you’ll have to let me know what you think.

**These are super easy and the perfect combination of acidity, spiced and rounded nicely with vanilla, crispy on the outside-very tender on the inside yumminess. Please note that they do require a marinating time–so plan accordingly.

Ingredients:

36 Wings (I didn’t take note of the weight, but these were whole wings, with drumette, mid-section and tip)
1 Cup Vanilla Oil
1 Cup Lemon Juice (remember, I have a LOT of lemons to use up!)
4 Teaspoons Ground Cumin
4 Teaspoons Kosher or sea salt
Ground pepper to your taste
A few drops of Frank’s Hot Sauce or Tabasco to your taste

Method:

Combine all marinade ingredients and whisk well to combine. Pour over chicken and marinate for at least 4 hours–overnight is even better. I combined my marinade in a snap-lock plastic container, shook the marinade well, and then added the chicken. I also tried to “shake” the container (or turn it up-side down) every few hours since the marinade was mostly on the bottom of the container.

Line a large baking sheet (or two half-sheets) with parchment or foil (to make clean-up easier!). Place a rack on top of parchment and spray with vegetable spray (such as Pam). Remove wings from marinade and place on rack.

Roast at 400º until nicely browned. I have a convection oven, so they took about 30 minutes.