Game Day Week Recipe #2: Grilled Buffalo Wings and Blue Cheese Dip

Buffalo Wings and Blue Cheese:  It’s a match made in football watching munchie heaven.  Only recently, have I been able to admit that I actually like blue cheese.  It took me years and years of failed attempts, but I’ve finally grown to like it.  And thank goodness I have, because it makes eating Buffalo Wings that much better.

I’ve made a few different variations of traditional Buffalo Wings and this is the favorite that we always return to.  Why?  It’s easy.  It takes about five minutes of prep time and then, after letting them marinate all day, you throw them on the grill instead of the traditional deep fry. Plus, the blue cheese sauce is so, so good and just as easy.  If you make these, promise me you’ll try the homemade dip instead of just buying a bottle of blue cheese dressing.  Please?

You’ll start by mixing together a spicy, vinegar based marinade.  We like our wings on the spicy side, so I added a little extra Tabasco sauce and red pepper.  Feel free to play with the mixture to suit your taste!

Next, you’ll prep your chicken wings.  Oftentimes, you’ll be able to find the little chicken drums already prepped for you at the grocery store.  Sometimes, though, all they have available are the whole chicken wings.  If you come across whole wings, you can easily slice them into three pieces.

The photo above shows both a whole chicken wing at the top and the three sections of the separated wing in the bottom row.  The pointy wing tip (far right, bottom row) can be discarded.  Then, using a sharp knife, slice between the joint of the drum and the wingette (How cute is that name?  Seriously! That’s what it’s called!)

Once your wings are prepped, place them in a gallon sized freezer bag, pour the marinade in, squeeze all of the air out and seal it up tight.  Massage the bag a bit to make sure that the marinade works its way through and then place the bag in a large bowl, just in case it leaks.  At this point, the wings go in the fridge to marinate for a few hours.  I made these early in the morning and then threw them on the grill around 5:00 PM.  Every couple of hours, flip the marinade bag over and redistribute the sauce.

Now, it’s onto the blue cheese dip.  You’ll need a cup of chunky blue cheese.  I used Point Reyes blue cheese.  If you can find this, it’s out of California, give it a try.  It is the creamiest blue cheese around, as far as I’m concerned.  I prefer breaking up a block of blue cheese myself as opposed to buying it in crumbles.  This way, I can control the size and the cheese hasn’t dried out.  To crumble the cheese easily, just use a fork.  Nobody, no matter how much they love blue cheese, wants hands that smell like it.  Trust me.  Just use a fork.

You’ll mix the blue cheese with a few quick ingredients and then it can go in the fridge to hang out until the wings are ready.

After a few minutes on the grill later in the day, you’ll have a great bowl of wings and sauce just begging to hang out with you while you watch the big game.

GRILLED BUFFALO WINGS AND BLUE CHEESE DIP

Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library