Magic Wings and homemade Ranch dipping sauce

My friend made these Nom Nom Paleo wings for a dinner some weeks ago, and I've been wanting to make them ever since. There was something decadent about them, and about the really delicious ranch sauce, maybe just because it is not something I usually make at home. Once in awhile I get the wings at Geek Love cafe as an easy dinner, because there is something so tasty about wings. But these are even better! I finally made them last night, along with a salad (because, homemade ranch!) and some sweet potato "fries" (aka sweet potato slices).

The tasty part about the wings is the special umami salt, what Michelle of Nom Nom Paleo calls Magic Mushroom Powder: it's dried porcini mushrooms mixed with salt and spices. It's really good. And of course the ranch with homemade mayo. Both of those recipes are listed below the one for wings.

Magic Wings, 4-5 servings
3 pounds chicken wings

1 1/2 tablespoons Magic Mushroom Powder (see below)
1 tablespoon olive oil 

 

1. Place the wings in a large bowl, and throw on the Magic Mushroom Powder. Toss the chicken with your hands to evenly distribute the seasoning. Cover and marinate the wings in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

2. A half-hour before serving, take the wings out of the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 425°F with the rack in the middle position.

3. Place a wire rack (if you have one) on top of an oiled, rimmed baking sheet, or just oil a rimmed baking pan. (I have to do both because my wire rack and pans are not big enough). Grease the rack with the melted fat before arranging the chicken wings in a single layer. Don’t overcrowd the wings, or they won’t brown properly!

4. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Then,flip each wing and rotate the tray. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes or until the skins are crisp, taut, and brown.

5. Plate and serve immediately with ranch dipping sauce! (recipe below)

 

Magic Mushroom Powder - makes about 1 1/3 cups
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms (I bought mine at Seward)
2/3 c sea salt
1 T red pepper flakes
4 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp freshly ground pepper

1) Grind the mushrooms - I did this in my coffee grinder, and had to do it in 2 batches. Be sure to let the mushroom powder settle right after grinding - don't remove the lid for a few minutes. Otherwise it plumes out in mushroom cloud. (Michelle warned of this, and I opened my grinder after only a minute and it was still pluming.)
2) While waiting, measure out all other ingredients into a bowl. Add mushroom powder, and mix thoroughly. Done!

Ranch dressing makes 1/2 c
1/4 c homemade mayo
1/4 c heavy cream or coconut milk
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried dill
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Stir everything together and eat!

Carrot-Sweet Potato Cakes (and hollandaise)

All the rain this spring created some beautiful, large carrots. I've been sort of holding back on picking them since the zucchini and green beans are first in order, but I picked a few this weekend to make these. I've made these latke-like cakes a few times over the past several months - but this was my first time making them with garden carrots. Yum! I decided to go all out and make hollandaise sauce too for a proper paleo eggs benedict. It turns out hollandaise isn't as hard to make as I imagined. I also didn't really realize that hollandaise is really just like a butter or ghee mayo, but with egg yolks instead of egg.

The original recipe for these fritters is spiced more sweet than savory, with cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg. I go more savory and just use salt and pepper for flavor because I find they make really good burger buns, or as a platform for an egg - they are sort of bread-like with the sweetness from the carrot/sweet potato. These cakes are similar to the root veggie latkes I posted some while back, but these don't include onions and are a little egg-ier. I find these ones simpler, and the extra eggs lend to a more bun/bread-like experience.

Carrot-Sweet Potato Cakes (makes 8 cakes)
1 cup sweet potato, shredded
2 cup carrots, shredded
4 teaspoons coconut flour
4 eggs
coconut oil for cooking
salt to taste at end

1. Mix shredded carrots and sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Add coconut flour and stir to coat the shreds evenly.
2. Beat eggs together and pour over carrot/sweet potatoes. Mix thoroughly. The mixture will be quite wet and shrink a bit.
3. Heat coconut oil in cast iron skillet or griddle on medium heat. When the oil is hot, spoon out (or use your fingers like I do), a heaping 1/4 cup's worth of "batter." Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until browned and a bit crispy. As the cakes are cooking, sprinkle some salt on each one. (You could add salt to the mix too, but I find this causes the cakes to get more wet - better to salt at the end.)
4. These are ready to eat right off the griddle, or you can keep them in a warm oven if you are using them for burger buns or eggs benedict. I've had them at room temp too and they are still good.

For paleo eggs benedict top these cakes with some bacon, egg, and hollandaise sauce (see below). Yum.

Hollandaise (makes about 1 1/2 cups)
*This is how I made mine and it was delicious. There are lots of recipes out there with varying amounts of butter and egg yolk, but this one worked for me. It helps to have a cooking companion to help pour while you whisk.
2 sticks butter (lightly salted or unsalted)
3 T water
3 egg yolks
2 T fresh lemon juice
Warm water

1. Melt butter (or ghee) in a small saucepan. Simmer on low heat.
2. Create a double boiler using a small pot with water in it, and a larger metal mixing bowl on top. You want rounded edges in the metal mixing bowl since you are going to be whisking and you don't want egg caught somewhere. Heat water in the pot to boiling. When it is near boiling, put your egg yolks and water in the large mixing bowl (off of the steaming pot) and whisk together for 30 seconds until frothy.
3. When water in pot is boiling, put mixing bowl on top (this is your double boiler) and continue whisking. It will take a minute or two for the bowl to heat, and what you are going for is a very subtle cooking of the egg and water. This will take another minute or two (so 3-4 minutes total), and you are looking for the egg yolks to become pale and creamy. They will leave a trail, or tracks, behind them that hold for a few seconds. As soon as this happens, remove the eggs from the double boiler and turn the heat off under the pot. Whisk the eggs another 30 seconds or so to cool them a bit.
4. Slowly pour in the warm butter as you continue whisking (still off the double boiler). This will take several minutes - you are adding the butter slowly because you don't want to "break" the emulsification. Once the butter is added, add your lemon juice. I like a lemony hollandaise, so kept adding it until it tasted right to me. 1-3 T should be good. Also add salt to taste if you used unsalted butter.
5. You can rest your sauce on the double boiler pot until you are ready to serve - don't turn the heat on, it will be warm enough there to hold it. Mine sat at least 15 minutes - I'm sure it can sit longer if you whisk it occasionally.
6. If your hollandaise is too thick: I like a slightly thinner sauce. If yours is thicker than you like, whisk in warm water (again a little at a time) before serving (I just used the warm water from the double boiler pot). I added 2-3 T worth until it was the consistency I like.

This recipe makes plenty to serve 4 (8 carrot-sweet potato cakes and 8 eggs); I had extra left over. And I have been eating it up! It was delicious spread on left over chicken breast and to dip my carrot sticks in. You can also gently reheat this - again in a double boiler - to bring back to the warm, pourable texture. Cold it is more like a thick mayo, or a very soft and creamy butter.

Carrot-Sweet Potato cake as a burger "bun" with mayo.