A Quickie. If Planned Accordingly.

It’s funny how home cooked meal each day is an odd thing. A friend of ours walked into our house and said, “Every time I come over you’re cooking”. I’m sorry? Ha ha. I guess it is an odd thing. And perhaps I won’t be cooking every day when I’ll have a full time job or children but I guess for now it’s a good thing to make a habit.

Growing up, my mother cooked almost every day. One a week we would order take out or go eat at a restaurant but that was mostly to give her a break and allow her to just relax. Our culture is engulfed in the spirit of eating. Every Friday night and every Saturday afternoon we have a beautiful meal with a variety of salads, dips and 3-4 courses. My mother used to make something different from week to week. We were blessed I guess, to have meat, chicken, fish at our disposal. I guess if you can have it, you might as well make the best of it.

When I used to visit Israel as a child, I remember my grandmother telling me that red meat and chicken was expensive so they wouldn’t eat it every day. They’d eat a lot of rice and macaronis. I never really thought of the meat and chicken as being expensive and a treat, it was always there. Like I said, we were blessed and I didn’t even know it.
Now as a grown up, buying our own meat I realized how pricy it could get, especially buying kosher meat. I could only imagine how it would be if I vowed to eat only organic. I think about the things they do to cows and chickens and realize I probably wouldn’t want to expose my children to such foods. Hopefully, I’ll be economically blessed by the time my children come around and I could offer better quality foods.

Today we had some chicken wings. David wasn’t too excited in the beginning when he realized I didn’t marinate them in the typical sauce I use but I wanted to try something different. When I made the marinade in the morning and tasted it, well, in all honesty, it wasn’t that great. It was just too citrusy. But I figured I’d go with the flow and trust my extinct and figured if it was really bad I’d just debone them and feed them to the dogs. But of course, I’ve been on a roll and the chicken wings were amazing. I guess once they’re cooked the taste of the honey and zest really make an amazing combination.

This is a dish for working mothers/wives. You can make this the night before and when you get home just throw them on the grill and in 30 minutes you have delicious chicken wings. You can also make this marinade and put the chicken wings in a ziplock and put them in the freezer and thaw them on the counter before you go to work and when you come home you can cook them and serve them.

The side dish, Brussels sprouts is one of those dishes that you get funny looks from people at first and then it’s gone in 5 minutes. I made a serving that I thought would serve 3-4 people but it was dissolved by the 2 of us, and we wanted more. Point being, these little sprouts are delicious and they’re so simple to make its amazing! I never ever ate them growing up but after eating them at my friend Efrat’s house I decided to give them a try. Thank you Efrat for exposing me to a new veggie.
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Cilantro-Lime Chicken Wings

with Brussels Sprouts and Tomatoes

Serves: 2-3 People
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
16 chicken wings, tips cut off
2 limes
1 lemon
4 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon of crushed dried onions (or 1 tablespoons of finely chopped white onion)
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of crushed black pepper
1 bunch of cilantro
¼ cup of olive oil
20 small Brussels sprouts
1 shallot or 1 small white onion
2 vine tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper

Directions:
In a large bowl, zest the two limes and one lemon and then squeeze the juice from all 3 into the bowl. Add the honey, the crushed onions, salt, pepper and garlic powder. In a food processor or the kitchen aid mini chopper, place the thoroughly washed cilantro into it with the olive oil. If it doesn’t fit, put ½ the bunch and ½ the oil, blend and then add the rest to the mixture and blend the rest all together. Blend it till it becomes finely chopped and incorporated. Add the mixture to the bowl.
Wash the chicken wings well and then cut off any excess skin or fat. Pat the wings dry and then add them to the bowl. Allow the chicken wings to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours but more if possible. This is great to prepare a day ahead and make the next day. 3 ways to cook: 1. Turn the oven to broil and broil on each side for about 5-8 minutes. You must watch the broil to make sure the chicken doesn’t burn. 2. You can also do these on a grill pan, grilling each for about 15 minutes until golden brown and flip over to do the same. Poke the chicken with the knife to see that the juices run clear. 3. On the BBQ grill. Grill each side for about 10-15 minutes.
For the side dish, wash the Brussels sprouts and remove any dried layers. Remove the tips and split in half the long way. Season the sprouts with the salt and pepper. Take the 2 tomatoes and cut into 8 wedges. Heat a frying pan with the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Fry the finely chopped shallot/white onion and allow it to brown. Finely chop or mince the garlic and put it in the oil. Allow it to simmer for a moment but do not let it get brown. Add the sprouts bottom down and allow it to fry for a 4 minutes. Lay the tomatoes on top and allow it to simmer. Flip everything over and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes. The sprouts should be tender. Remove to a plate and make sure to pour all of the oil, shallot and garlic left over on to the sprouts.