Spicy Chicken Wings and Blue Cheese Sauce

I love January. Yes, I said it. Even though we have snow on the ground and its freezing outside, I love it. But, my love is not for the weather, it’s because there is so much football. Yes yes, I know the football season starts in September and I have 4 months of it, you’d think I’d be over it. But, the best games come in January. The college bowl games, the NFL playoffs, and of course the Super Bowl. (I know it’s in February this year but cut me some slack.) My football infatuation comes from being an only child I think. My poor football loving father had only one child, me. When I was born, he was determined to make me love football, no matter what gender I turned out to be. Specifically, we are Florida State Seminole fans, as we are both alumni, but I married a man with a somewhat unhealthy obsession with the Green Bay Packers. If you follow college football at all, you’ll know that I am an extremely happy Seminoles fan this year! And, although Green Bay lost in the playoffs we are still going to faithfully watch the rest of the NFL season.

My families mutual love of all things football means that we host a lot of game parties. In the past its meant really unhealthy food. And, I will admit to making some of those frozen boxed appetizers on occasion. But, that is in the past now that we are cleaning up our diet. I’ve been experimenting and testing cleaned up football fare recipes all season. This Spicy Hot Wings recipe is, I think, the best yet. I mean, these things are GOOD. Mmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about eating them. Add in the super yummy blue cheese sauce, and well, its just a football food you can’t NOT serve at your next get together. (Or everyday, yes they are that good.)

So, don’t let the 21 step recipe fool you, they are actually pretty simple to make. I started by having the butcher cut up a family sized pack of organic chicken wings into drumettes and wings. Once I got them home, I let them sit on the counter so they came to room temperature. Then I coated them in salt, pepper and olive oil. They cooked in a foil pouch in the oven for just under an hour. While they were cooking, I made the wing sauce and the blue cheese sauce. Once the wings were done, and after I poured out the liquid from the dish, I used a basting brush to brush on the wing sauce. This may seem like an unnecessary step, but it helps get the delicious sauce into the nooks and crannies of the chicken. Then I poured the rest of the sauce evenly over the wings to make sure they were coated well. The I put them under a low broiler for about 8 minutes. You really don’t want them to burn. I removed them and carefully turn each one over using rubber tipped tongs. Then put them back under the broiler for about 5 minutes.

Serve these puppies right away with the blue cheese and some celery sticks for a classic wing experience. Don’t forget to pour the sauce from the dish over the wings for a wetter wing. I know some people have very particular feelings about wings, so you can leave the extra sauce off if you like them drier. Don’t forget the extra napkins.