Party Food!

Had a small shindig last night, and had some excellent food. Wanted to share some of the recipes with you!

Garlic Lime Chicken Wings

Family size pack of wings
oil for frying
Dredge:
3/4 c. flour
1 tbs. smoked paprika
1 tsp seasoned salt

Sauce:
1/4 c. cider vinegar
juice of 1 lime (about 1/4 c.)
zest of 1 lime
1 large tbs of honey
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 shots tabasco (this does not add heat; it simply makes the limes taste lime-ier:) )

trim up family pack of wings, cutting off tips and separating the 2 pieces.  Dredge in a mix of flour and paprika. Put about an inch of oil in a heavy duty frying pan.  Fry at medium heat, turning after about 4 minutes (or when lightly brown; they will continue browning as you cook the other side). Fry other side for about 3 minutes, and set in oven to keep warm.

The sauce is simple, simply mix the above ingredients.  It will be rather watery, but that's okay, the wings will soak in the sauce.

To coat the wings, drop them in the bowl of sauce then take back out. (I like to scoop a bit, because then there's more garlic on the wing.)

I got the yen for some wings because recently, I'd had some amazing vinegar and salt wings.  I've wandered through online recipes, and I haven't found one yet that really tickles me, or makes me think its what I had.  Be really curious to find a good one!

I also made spinach artichoke dip, and some spinach artichoke wontons. I've never seen the recipe anywhere, but if you like spinach artichoke dip, these are killer.

Spinach Artichoke dip

1 box creamed spinach
1 can artichokes in water
1/2 c. mayonnaise (you really shouldn't substitute miracle whip in this recipe)
1/2 c. parmesan cheese

Defrost the spinach. You can cook this according to directions, and the result would be the same. Roughly chop the artichokes (I find in quarters worked just fine.) and mix all the ingredients together. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes.

This is really good with chips, or in a bread bowl.

Now, to make the wontons:

Spinach Artichoke Wontons

wonton skins
spinach artichoke dip (above...and yes, its best if it has been baked first.  It can get a bit watery if you use the dip uncooked for this.)
oil for frying
water

(if you have a deep fryer, by all means, use it! 375* for no more than 4 minutes...I'd do more like 3 minutes, myself...)

Heat up an inch of oil to medium heat.  Take a teaspoon of the dip and place in the middle of a wonton skin.  Wet 2 sides of your wonton, before folding the wonton skin diagonally over the dip. Press out the air as you do so and seal as completely as possible. You can make the corners meet for fancier wontons, but I usually leave them in flat triangles (they cook more evenly this way too.)
Fry on first side 2-3 minutes, and only one on the second.  pull out and drain.

I promise, you can't make enough of these. They are crunchy and creamy and the parmesan adds just enough saltiness.