Hawg Wings for Super Bowl!

What the heck’s a “hawg wing”? Well if pigs could fly, would they have wings?

This year, we’re offering up our delicious version of this recent invention from the food industry – that is a reshuffling of  the shank portion of the pig. The pork is wrapped around a sturdy bone, in a drumstick fashion which  allows you to eat the tender morsels with one hand. They taste like a cross between chicken wings and barbecued ribs. If you’re tired of chicken wings, or just want something meaty and different, come on in and check out our hawg wings!

Surprisingly, I asked Richard a few weeks ago if he had stocked up on chicken wings for the Super Bowl party weekend and he replied “no”! What? Sacrilege!  How could you NOT have chicken wings for the Super Bowl? Then he explained that the price of wings had skyrocketed out of sight and most of the big chains had bought up all the wings. He couldn’t even get ahold of wings, almost two weeks out from the Super Bowl.

This reminded me of the old days when we owned a restaurant and the liquor companies would jack up the cost of champagne a month or so ahead of the holidays. Unfair!! or just the American way?

Anyway, enter the hawg wing! And I have to admit – I tried my first one today and they ARE delicious! So if you want a special treat to take to your party tomorrow, stop on in and get a bunch!

Our favorite chicken salad recipe

Everyone is always looking for the best chicken salad recipe. One of our favorites is this healthy chicken salad recipe that has its roots in the savory flavors of Morocco.

We thought you’d like to learn some of the secrets to our famous, ever popular Moroccan chicken salad. We do it as a wrap or put a big dollop of it on a salad, AND we also chop it finer and spoon it into phyllo cups for a tasty and satisfying party appetizer. Here are some of Richard’s thoughts:

As long as I’ve been a chef I’ve been a strong proponent of the Mediterranean style of eating: which includes lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lesser amounts of fish, meat and wine. When I was designing a luncheon menu for Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go in the weeks before we opened, I wanted to emphasize that by taking some classic deli favorites and giving them a Mediterranean twist.  The Moroccan chicken salad was quickly a big hit. Visually it is striking from the bright colors in our homemade spice blend, ie. turmeric, cumin, coriander, paprika, ginger, nutmeg and more (called ‘ras al hanout’ in Morocco, literally translated as “top of the shop”).

For this easy chicken salad recipe, we start by roasting Murray’s free range chicken breasts rubbed with our spice blend (mentioned above), then mix the diced chicken with dried currants, red grapes, red onion, scallion, celery and cilantro. Finish the mix with mayonnaise (to taste), a splash of lemon juice and fresh ginger juice. Take this wonderful chicken salad to your next summer picnic or neighborhood BBQ and be prepared for many compliments.

Enjoy this slide show of how it all comes together.

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Award-winning Chicken Wings

 

As the owners of a food business that’s committed to sustainability, the idea of specializing in chicken wings, can bring one’s ideals into conflict!! This is the type of gray area we all come up against at various points in our life where the choice is to “give the people what they want” or take the higher road. We have caved on this one!

It all started a few years ago when we were invited to participate in the Ulster County Wing Fling – a new event that was being planned by the Chamber of Commerce, that had the potential to rival the now famous Garlic Festival held at Cantine Field in Saugerties. How could we say “no”? At this point, we made chicken wings occasionally for a special party order, or of course if people requested them for a big weekend like this one: Super Bowl Sunday! But that was the extent of it. Our talented chef Jonathan Sheridan had worked at several restaurants where he put out his own version of spicy wings, so we turned the big competition over to him, giving him free reign to create a great recipe. Which he did – and how! Sweet Thai Chili Wings!

And lo and behold, the 10,000 or so attendees at the festival agreed that Jonathan’s wings were the best – we won first place in the popular vote! Ever since that day, we have featured these delicious chicken wings in our store, as we do now, along with the more traditional Jalapeno Wings, served with blue cheese and celery.

Pick some up today or tomorrow for your Super Bowl party!  Your guests will love you for it!

The Joy of Kebobs

Well now that summer’s here, let’s just dive head first into the barbeque thing! As Americans we’re just crazy for the lure of the outdoor grill and what could be more fun and perfect then kebobs! Our plat du jour on Wednesdays is Mediterranean Kebobs and today we made them with fresh sushi grade tuna. What makes them “Mediterranean”? The recipe we used to marinate the tuna is called Pincho Moruno and it comes from one of our favorite cookbooks Delicioso, The Regional Cooking of Spain, by Penelope Casas. This marinade is traditionally used with pork, but it’s really delicious with any grilled meat, fish or poultry. Here is the recipe:

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp minced parsley
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp imported sweet paprika
1/4 tsp dried crushed hot red pepper
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp minced oregano leaves or 1/4 tsp dried
several threads of saffron
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in a shallow bowl and add the chunks of meat, fish or poultry lightly coating all the pieces. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning occasionally.

As you can see from the pictures, we then put the tuna chunks onto wooden skewers that have been soaking in water for one hour. In this case, we topped each kebob with a piece of zucchini, but you could have lots of fun making up your own combinations.

This is just one of many great grilling tips we’ll be sharing with you this summer. Enjoy!