Sunday Dinner

Last night for dinner Matt wanted buffalo wings.  The last time we tried to make them we failed miserably.  I thought it would be ok to use drumsticks instead of wings, and we just baked them and rolled them in buffalo sauce when the came out of the oven.  The sauce barely stuck to the meat, and they were just kind of blah.  This time around Matt spent a while looking up recipes until he found one that sounded more promising, so we gave wings another shot.  

First of all, here is what happens when you send your boyfriend to the grocery store with a shopping list that contains options he can choose from.  He buys everything on the list.  

Along with our wings we had brussels sprouts and mashed parsnips.  I've never made parsnips before, so I looked up a few recipes and then kind of made it up as I went.  

I started out by peeling them and chopping off the ends.

Then cut them up so they were relatively the same size.  

Then I boiled them, just like you would with potatoes, until they were fork tender.  

I stopped taking pictures of the parsnips at this point, but I basically just mashed them up with some skim milk, butter, and light sour cream.  I didn't measure the amounts or anything.  Not really my style.  I just added stuff until they were an acceptable consistency.  And did a little taste testing.  And threw in some salt and pepper.  That was that.

For the brussies, I chopped them up like so:

Then steamed them until they softened up a bit.  As simple as that.  

All the while Matt was dealing with the wings.  He knows that I usually buy Smart Chicken, so he did the same.  Isn't he nice?  I think so. 

The wings baked at 375 for 20 minutes with nothing on them, and then they came out for sauce.  We had a bottle of buffalo sauce that Matt mixed with some melted butter.  I wasn't paying very close attention, but I think it was about 3/4 cup sauce and 1/4 cup butter.  We're health fiends, can't you tell?  For the first dose of sauce Matt brushed it onto one side, and then stuck them back in the oven for 10 more minutes.  They were then flipped over, the other side got a nice dose of sauce, and they went back in for about 5 minutes.  Here's a picture of the very precise sauce application.  And I won't even get into how awesome the shirt is.  

Here's the finished product - buffalo on the left and barbeque on the right.  

And here it is all together.

While the wings were much better than the last time, I think we both agreed that there is still room for improvement.  The sauce did stick a little better this time and using wings instead of drumsticks was helpful, but I think it might be necessary to deep fry wings to get the full effect.  I'm not ready to give up on making wings without the frying part, though.  Maybe marinating them overnight would help.  

As for the rest of the meal, the barbeque wings were good.  I definitely liked those better than the buffalo ones.  The mashed parsnips were good, and they were a very easy side dish.  Matt really liked them, so I'm sure we'll be making them again.  The brussels sprouts were, of course, fantastic.   

Now I have to decide what to eat to warm up on this bitter cold night.  The temperature did not get above zero today, and it is currently at -4.  If there's anything I am grateful for, it is the fact that I do not live further north.