I love football season. It signals the slow slide into the cozy time of the year for me. The sweaters come out as does the hearty food and drink. This month our Vintage Recipe Redo and Swap posts smack dab in the middle of the Super Bowl. I originally determined my spin on the assigned Wild Rice Dressing recipe would be a yuppie Wild Rice Harvest Cake, with exotic grains and exotic sensibilities befitting the caliber of our swappers.
However, once realizing our posting overlap with the ‘biggest game of the year’ my attention became myopically fixated on Wings, the quintessential Super Bowl food. I felt everywhere I turned people were talking about them, recipes abound for them and I had to make them.
For my wings I decided I would be baking them and really wanted to incorporate Sumac (not of the poisonous variety) to brighten them up. If you are not familiar with sumac it is a lemony spice used mainly in Middle Eastern cooking but I think it’s highly under used. It’s great sprinkled on roasted vegetables and anywhere you want some brightness of flavor without becoming totally tangy or acidic as in the use of citrus.
I created a rub of toasted, pulverized wild rice, cayenne pepper, sumac, smoky paprika and honey leaving these wings deeply flavorful with a growing, lingering heat. Instead of a traditional blue cheese dipping sauce, I’ve made a simple Sour Cream Yogurt Sauce merely to cut any spice if desired. My familial taste testers not only gave them the thumbs up but asked me please to make another batch a mere few hours later.
TOASTED WILD RICE-SUMAC-CAYENNE WINGS
Yield: 12 wings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
· 12 total first and/or second joints of chicken wings (the drumette and meatier mid wing section)
· 2 tablespoons uncooked wild rice
· 2 tablespoons sumac
· 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
· 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
· ½ teaspoon white pepper
· 1 teaspoon honey
· 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small, heavy skillet dry cook the wild rice over medium heat stirring constantly for 3 to 5 minutes until toasted. The rice turns from black to tawny brown and begins to smell nutty when it is toasted. Grind toasted rice into a powder with a spice grinder (I have a dedicated coffee grinder I use for spices) or a mortar and pestle.
3. In a large bowl combine the wild rice powder, sumac, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, white pepper, honey and vegetable oil. Stir or whisk together to form a rub.
4. Add chicken wings to the bowl of spices and work the rub into all sides of each wing with your hands. Place into a roasting pan and bake for 1 hour.
5. Allow to cool just until they can be handled and serve.
SOUR CREAM YOGURT SAUCE
I used Greek yogurt for this recipe for its thicker consistency which is more like sour cream than traditional yogurt.
Ingredients:
· ½ cup sour cream
· ¼ cup plain flavor Greek yogurt
· 1 tablespoon finely chopped Italian parsley
· Salt and Pepper to taste
Whisk together all ingredients until smooth and combined. Serve chilled for dipping wings.
When I learned 7 years ago that I could no longer eat gluten, I cried. Not for the loss of gluten, I did not even really understand what gluten was, but for the disorientation of it all. I’d lived my life traveling extensively, eating whatever I pleased. I told the nutritionist I was working with I felt ‘gluten free’ was like a country I had never heard of and I’d just been given a passport and told I’d be living there the rest of my life. I felt like she’d kindly told me I needed to walk out her front door and climb Everest; with no oxygen.
In hindsight my first year was spent judging how far apart I now was from the world of food I’d always known. I would constantly think up foods, even those I did not like, and try to find out if they were available to buy or make in gluten free form. I was trying to get my bearings to comprehend what life would be like.
A lot has changed in the years I’ve been gluten free. A constant statistic I’ve heard is that 1 in 132 people are believed to have a form of gluten intolerance, most undiagnosed. The ever growing awareness and availability of gluten free food, quality gluten free food, seems to support the unveiling of this long cloaked dietary condition. I decided early on that I was not going to let this be my cross to bear. Though I have to consider everything I consume, I was not going to wear it like a sandwich board nor was I going to eat in a way to give it power over my culinary life.
Beer is something completely off limits for those gluten intolerant. Though I’m not a huge beer drinker, there are times when only a beer will do. At first I could only find a rice based beer which was expensive, hard to find and not so good. Anheuser-Busch stepped up with Redbridge and it was the first time I felt I was back in the ballpark with flavor normalcy. Sadly it was pulled from the market for reformulating and I don’t think it ever returned.
Colorado is a hot bed of craft beer. I feel certain if you polled beer drinkers in most of the U.S. metropolitan areas you’d find they all know what a Fat Tire is and have had at least one. When I decided to make these spicy wings the first beverage I thought to pair them with was beer. I sashaying into my neighborhood liquor store asking ‘do you carry any gluten free beer?’ They escorted me over to the refrigerator and presented New Planet gluten free beer. I’d heard of it but knew nothing else about it. I bought one six pack (or 4 pack) of each of their three flavors: Tread Lightly Ale, 3R Raspberry Ale and Off the Grid Pale Ale.
Clearly my locavore divining rod was on the case with this mission. New Planet is not only from Colorado but from Boulder with brewing conducted in Fort Collins. As the name suggests they are environmentally conscious donating a percentage of their proceeds to worthy causes that are attentive to the environment. Each of the ales channels proceeds into a different environmentally conscious effort. New Planet only makes gluten free beer; each batch is certified to ensure adherence to gluten free standards. They sport the relaxed slogan ‘No gluten? No problem’, which I love. I was anxious to see if their fanfare would pass muster in a taste test.
A personal criterion I have for gluten free food and drink is ‘is it good?’ Not ‘is it the best you can get in gluten free form?’ but for anyone is it good. Ultimately I want to be eating and drinking in a way that is fulfilling, not just the best possible for ‘my condition’ (though that does come into play at times). I recruited a knowledgeable beer-consuming friend who is NOT gluten free to do a taste test with me and share our findings. For the purposes of this article he’s elected the pseudonym ‘Manuel’ (I imagine because it makes him feel a bit like Antonio Banderas, but we’ll keep that between us).
Tread Lightly Ale (proceeds benefit trail restoration)
This ale is by far the lightest in color and flavor.
Toni (Boulder Locavore): Very light in flavor, thirst quenching, easy to drink on a hot afternoon. Would be overpowered by most flavorful food. The beer for someone not particularly a beer lover but wanting to drink it still.
Manuel: Very light, taste the sorghum which is the tipoff that it is a gluten free beer. Would drink it but it’s a bit mild.
3R Raspberry Ale (proceeds benefit recycling education)
I will assert I have a predisposition that fruit and beer do not belong in the same bottle the same as relatives from different sides of a family with staunchly different beliefs do not belong at a dinner table together. I was prepared for this to be a ‘sissy’ beer designed for a boutique crowd. After tasting I was forced to drink my words. This beer uses a raspberry puree from raspberries picked in Oregon for the fruit notes in the ale.
Toni: It had a distinct aroma of raspberry and though you taste the raspberry it is not sweet and the fruit flavor enhances the grain in the ale. It’s very different in a good way. My favorite and great with the wings.
Manuel: Manuel’s second favorite. Not too sweet on the palate; smells sweeter than it tastes. It is a lighter ale that is not particularly hoppy.
Off The Grid Pale Ale (proceeds benefit alternative energy)
This is the most similar in flavor to a gluten beer. Manuel would group this in a Bass Ale family with regard to flavor.Toni: It has the most complex flavor profile but on its own (without food) is too hoppy tasting for me. It was the best match with the wings as its bolder flavor stands up to stronger flavored food.
Manuel: Manuel’s favorite, hands down. Least easy to distinguish as a gluten free beer. A comparable pale ale, gluten free or not. The best and finest gluten free beer he’s had (and he has done other gluten free tastings).
Jacqueline - The Dusty Baker says
That's it, Toni, I think I am officially in love with you. These look GORGEOUS. I am WAY too hungry to be looking at such beautiful food. And you're AWESOME for doing a beer comparison – I've never seen that brand!
El says
love the way you think. Sumac. what a concept. love this recipe and love hearing about your journey. I feel soooo much better without gluten, and my best advice is just stay away from processed foods. They hide the stuff.
I'm definitely gonna try this. thanks. el
Boulder Locavore says
What a lovely compliment, thank you! I agree on processed food, gluten free or not. A fabulous side effect of no gluten as I'm sure you discovered is it's very easy to eat 'safely' with whole foods. A nice trail to easy health. But of course one can subsist on Snickers and Cheetos and be gluten free (back to your advice on processed foods!). Hope you will try it El. It really was very simple and delish.
thedustybaker.com says
I think I'm in love with you. Really. These wings look TO DIE FOR! And I've never seen that line of beer. Wish I weren't going through all the swap posts SO HUNGRY! He he he!
Boulder Locavore says
You are too funny! The wings are really good if I do say so myself. I don't remember from their list if the beer is available in NYC but I would think it is. Be on the lookout!
Julia says
I'm not a HUGE beer drinker, and I don't have to eat gluten free, but that raspberry ale sure does sound good! And paired with these wings and the refreshing yogurt sauce. Can I just come over and eat all of your leftovers? If there's any left…
Boulder Locavore says
Sadly no leftovers and I made a second batch too! The raspberry ale IS good. And as I shared I did not expect to like it. The quality of the raspberry taste is very organic and good. Well thought through brewing; not just a gratuituous placement of fruit in an ale!
Cake Duchess says
I really admire you for gringing your rice for the spice in these yummy chickens wings. So creative and I bet they were just delicious! I never had sumac before and now am very curious and need to look for it at the Middle Eastern Market near my house. Excellent yogurt dip and I have to agree with Julia that the raspberry would be my favorite in the beers;)
Boulder Locavore says
Thank you! You should try sumac Lora (plus how fun to poke around the Middle Eastern market!). It's a beautiful spice and I'm sure you'd find many uses for it. It's is light and seems like a great match for warm weather dishes!
Lana says
Next time I expect you not only to raise the chicken from the egg up, but to butcher it:) All I can do is stupidly blink at my monitor trying to envision your day. Thanks for the inspiration – I will grind my own rice one of these days:)
We have a few Persian stores in the neighborhood and I bought sumac there after trying it at an Azerbaijani restaurant in Berkeley. You are right, it is truly underrated and it adds a nice tart note to many dishes.
My coffee grinder designated for spices died just before we moved and I have to get another ASAP (even though I have a beautiful molcajete y tejolote I brought from Yucatan).
Thanks for another adventurous and entertaining read!
Boulder Locavore says
Ok, ok. I get this alot. I'll stop myself before installing my own rice paddy in the backyard! I would love chickens though; my HOA would not. Love reading your posts Lana and I appreciate you coming by for a read too!
Rachel says
You know you've made something fabulous when a vegetarian really wants to eat it, even if it's meat. Seriously. Wow. I am making your wild rice sumac rub and rubbing it on…something.
I may not care much about the super bowl but I'm really glad it inspired you to make these wings!
Boulder Locavore says
I kind of feel like the Superbowl isn't even about the game anymore! I hope you will make rub. Wonder if you could put it on firm, marinated tofu and grill it? I loved the nutty flavor of the toasted wild rice.
Carolyn says
Wow, Toni, what a creative way to work that wild rice into a game day treat. I had my fill of wings yesterday…ours were with jerk seasoning. Yum!
Boulder Locavore says
Yummy! The rice when toasted really tastes nutty and give extra texture. It was a hit! Hoping you had a fun and festive day too!
Kirsten says
Hi Toni,
Can you believe that I have never made wings? I have to share with you that I have an aversion with food that leaves traces of sauce/ stuff on my face. I know that sounds pathetic, right? The pictures you took are just great and I was wondering if I could also use a fork and knife to eat the wings.
Thanks for your comment on the blog move. I am still working on things, but I am glad the major work is done.
Have a great day.
Kirsten
Boulder Locavore says
You are funny! I appreciate the 'true confessions'. My feeling is you can do whatever you want with regard to how you eat food! If you'd feel better eating wings with a knife and fork go for it! I suspect part of their charm however IS eating them with one's fingers. Like putting your feet on the coffee table with shoes on.
Lindsay @ Rosemarried says
I'm not a huge fan of wings — but THESE wings look amazing! I love that you shifted your recipe idea from a wild rice harvest cake to wings! Way to be flex! And I love that the recipe was in the spirit of the superbowl. Next year I'm inviting myself over to your place to watch the game. š
Boulder Locavore says
These are definitely 'not your Mama's chicken wings'. The rub made them very flavorful in an untraditional way. Football lover or not, I think the Super Bowl is too iconic for Americans to ignore!