The Best Revenge Against Winter

With the onset of winter last week, I figured that it was a perfect time to fire up the grill (my way of shaking my fist at the gods of winter).

I had a houseful of kids, so I decided to make the most of it and grill in bulk. Twice. By all accounts, the results were outstanding, even though the lamb chops were done largely blindly, in the dark, in freezing cold wet wind.

So I thought I'd share the recipes from last weekend: Hot Wings and Herb-Encrusted Lamb Chops.






Hot Wings

Ingredients

Wings (I picked up a 10 lb bag of frozen wings at Sam's Club)
Hot Sauce (I prefer Louisiana Hot Sauce, but use whatever you like)
2 packets of Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
16 oz Sour Cream

Directions

It's key to this recipe to marinade the wings long enough to really absorb the hot sauce. I marinade them in plastic bags at least overnight in the fridge, and then set them out on the counter an hour before I put them on the grill.

When it comes to grilling, I'm a bit of a purist. I only cook over charcoal and wood, and I never use starter fluid to get the fire going. Instead, I use strips of newspaper, covered with sticks, covered by the charcoal. I actually have a (clean) garbage can full of sticks in the garage that I keep for this purpose. With as many mature trees as we have in the back yard, keeping the can full is no challenge. In fact...I bet I could sell the excess to the neighbors. Hmm...

But I digress.

Another key to this recipe is to mix some hickory chunks in with the charcoal. This is in contrast to the usual instructions of soaking the hickory, then adding it to the coals just before putting the meat on. In my experience, the soaking doesn't add much, if anything, and I get plenty of hickory flavor using them dry.

Once the grill is ready, put the wings on, and before covering, sprinkle one packet of the Dry Ranch mix on the wings.



The goal is to grill the wings at 350° over indirect heat. I put the coals to the right of the grill and the wings to the left. If you have a thermometer on the grill, you can adjust as you go along. If not...well, then just 'wing' it.

While the wings are cooking, go ahead and mix the other packet of Ranch dressing with the sour cream and store in the fridge to keep cold.

Since you're using indirect heat, you don't need to turn the wings during the cooking process; just let them cook (doesn't get any easier than that).

Once the wings look and feel done (again, about an hour), this is what you'll get:

Dip the hot wings in the cold Ranch dressing. Add a few cold beers, and you've got poultry paradise. If you've followed the recipe correctly, you should also get a lot of compliments, and possible surprise visits from the neighbors.

If you somehow really burned them, then add more beer. It won't do anything for the wings, but it might for your guests.


Herb-Encrusted Lamb Chops

Using fresh herbs really pops out the flavor of this recipe. I actually did this on Monday night for Clay, Lisa's prodigal son, who returned home from college for food. Uhm, I mean, to see his mother. It's a little more involved than the wings, but still pretty quick and easy.

Ingredients

4 lamb loin chops (These, too, I got at Sam's)
1/4 cup olive oil (Use good quality olive oil. I get mine from World Harvest on University)
About a tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped
About a tablespoon of fresh basil, chopped
About a tablespoon of fresh rosemary, chopped
2 cloves garlic (More if you love garlic. There's no such thing as too much)
The zest of 1 lemon
About a teaspoon of salt
About 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Combine everything except the lamb chops in a bowl. Use a garlic press to get the most of the garlic cloves. Once everything is mixed well, dip the chops into the mix and coat evenly. Put the chops in a shallow bowl and pour any remaining mix over them. They should something look like the photo below.

I'd let the chops marinate for about an hour in the fridge, flipping them once.

Get the grill going. Follow the suggestions in the wing recipe for prepping the grill (adding hickory chunks, etc.)

I find any type of red meat does well on high heat, directly over the coals, with a minimum of time on the grill. You really want to sear the flavor in. For these chops, I wouldn't go any longer than 5 minutes to a side. Actually, I slightly overcooked them at 5 minutes, but as I mentioned previously, it was night and it was cold, so I only stepped out the side door long enough to put them on / flip them / take them off. Ordinarily, I would have kept a closer watch.

At any rate, they still came out good - here's the final result:

These are great with or without steak sauce. Actually, I make my own sauce, as well, but that's a subject for another blog.

A dry red wine does well with these.

If you try either of these recipes and like what you get, let me know.

In the meantime...I'm hungry again.

Gotta go.