What's on the Grill #182: Tahini Wings
About a month ago, I stumbled across posts about baba ghanoush from both Dave at Weber_Cam and The Kitchn. My ignorance was in full bloom, as I was about as familiar with baba ghanoush as I was with match light charcoal.
Since I considered the postings a sign, and I have a love of eggplant, I whipped up a batch. Great stuff. This eggplant based son of hummus dip is ever so simple, and certainly a much needed bit of variety in the long line of summertime salsas.
Now when originally going through the ingredients, one item gave me pause: Tahini. What sounds like a missing line from a Beach Boy's song, is in fact a paste made up of ground sesame seeds. It smells incredible and is a central ingredient in several Middle Eastern foods including, most notably, hummus and baba ghanoush.
Since tahini really made an impact on me, and I had a lot of it, I tried to figure out what else to make with it. I quickly settled on a wing sauce. Surprising, I know.
The wing preparation was pretty straight forward. I cut off the tips, seasoned them with salt and pepper and brushed them with canola oil. I grilled them over direct medium heat for about 12 minutes, turning once.
For the sauce, I used this recipe from Epicurious:
Tahini Sauce
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
1/2 cup well-stirred tahini
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Dice the garlic, and add the salt to make a paste. Whisk together the garlic paste with the remaining ingredients.
With the wings done, I then tossed the wings with the sauce, grabbed a beer, and ate.
The wings turned out good, yet obviously a different experience from your typical sauce. Although I enjoyed them, I think I could have done something else to it. I almost felt like it needed something a little more sweet to balance it out. Of course, you really can't screw up wings, so I devoured my entire plate looking for more.
Thanks to friends, I was able to take an unexpected culinary turn in the road. I love turns.
Since I considered the postings a sign, and I have a love of eggplant, I whipped up a batch. Great stuff. This eggplant based son of hummus dip is ever so simple, and certainly a much needed bit of variety in the long line of summertime salsas.
Now when originally going through the ingredients, one item gave me pause: Tahini. What sounds like a missing line from a Beach Boy's song, is in fact a paste made up of ground sesame seeds. It smells incredible and is a central ingredient in several Middle Eastern foods including, most notably, hummus and baba ghanoush.
Since tahini really made an impact on me, and I had a lot of it, I tried to figure out what else to make with it. I quickly settled on a wing sauce. Surprising, I know.
The wing preparation was pretty straight forward. I cut off the tips, seasoned them with salt and pepper and brushed them with canola oil. I grilled them over direct medium heat for about 12 minutes, turning once.
For the sauce, I used this recipe from Epicurious:
Tahini Sauce
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
1/2 cup well-stirred tahini
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Dice the garlic, and add the salt to make a paste. Whisk together the garlic paste with the remaining ingredients.
With the wings done, I then tossed the wings with the sauce, grabbed a beer, and ate.
The wings turned out good, yet obviously a different experience from your typical sauce. Although I enjoyed them, I think I could have done something else to it. I almost felt like it needed something a little more sweet to balance it out. Of course, you really can't screw up wings, so I devoured my entire plate looking for more.
Thanks to friends, I was able to take an unexpected culinary turn in the road. I love turns.
Mike Lang