With
our respective travels, we hadn’t seen our friends Laurie and Dave (Big Daddy Dave) for a couple of months so we invited them over for an appetizer dinner
and a visit.
We
started off with some focaccia bread (brought by them) dipped
in olive oil flavored with fresh herbs and parmesan.
Next
up was some Spicy Maple Bacon Wrapped Shrimp using the recipe from Inspired Taste. I’m not sure how I found it but I’ve listed
the ingredients below – please click on the link and go to original site for the
complete recipe and some good how-to shots.
Ingredients:
10 pieces
thinly sliced bacon
20
extra large (16/20) shrimp (about 1 pound)
1/2 teaspoon
salt
2
tablespoons maple syrup
1
tablespoon sriracha hot chili sauce
Juice
of half a lemon
Sliced
green onion (garnish) I forgot it
We
all thought the shrimp were very good even though the bacon I used was just okay. Next time I’ll use really good bacon and a
little more sriracha or make extra sauce for drizzling at the end.
The
last dish we served offered an opportunity for a taste test and you know we love to do
them around Almost Heaven South. My original plan for this meal was
to just grill/smoke some wings and toss in hot sauce until Heather from Rocky Mountain Cooking posted an adaptation of the wings I had cooked
while visiting in Denver. I'd planned to
just try her version at some point, but could not pass up the taste test opportunity.
After
a toss with canola oil, I seasoned the wings with S&P, and cooked with indirect heat in the 275*
gas grill to an internal temp of 155* - apple wood chips in foil packets provided
the smoke. At this point they took two
different paths as batch one got my normal treatment of cooking over direct
heat to crisp the skins followed by a toss in my go-to wing sauce from Chef Dennis.
The second batch was tossed in the
sauce immediately after smoking then grilled over direct heat to achieve a little char on them, then
tossed in sauce again. I put both on the
same plate but the ones on the lower right with the char are the second
version.
Both
versions were delicious, but version two (Heather's) was the consistent favorite and I’m
not surprised as I’ve always liked my grilled chicken with a little char on it. Next time I’ll do another test on Heather's version only by cooking one batch like the above and the second batch by basting a few times with the
sauce rather than giving them the final toss in it. Thanks Heather for posting your adaptation.
We finished off a fun evening with a nice dessert of provided by Laurie and David.
Photos
best if enlarged by clicking on them.
Larry
10/12/2013
event date
Looks delicious and I'm sure that Dave and Laurie enjoyed it very much! YUM...
ReplyDeleteHope you had a good week. We have been in Kentucky with friends... Had a fantastic time although it was COLD there.
Hugs,
Betsy
those wings look amazing! I will definitely be giving those a try!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, my mouth is watering. I'll need to give the chicken a try. Sad to see the header photo change....loved that Durango photo :-)
ReplyDeleteLarry, It was all super good...a relaxing evening with appetizers galore! Thanks and Take Care, Dave and Laurie
ReplyDeleteThe shrimp looks absolutely delicious. I think I could happily eat either version.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a fun night filled with really tasty food!
ReplyDeleteThat shrimp sounds incredible Larry. Pinning that recipe to try very soon. And must learn to make those wings .... correctly! :)
ReplyDeleteJust went over to her page and said hi. Great looking wings, now you have me craving brisket AND wings....
ReplyDelete