Chicken Wings with Bourbon BBQ Sauce and Lime-Cilantro Yogurt

I love sitting down with pen to paper and creating a new recipe. Something decadent, delicious and gourmet. I'll play around with the recipe until it's just right and then throw it at the wall and hope it sticks. The wall in this case usually happens to be friends or family and often it's while hosting a dinner party. It's a great multi-step process that encourages and, hopefully, elicits a few oohs and aahs.

Those types of meals and occasions are great for what they are. It's about special events, memorable moments and food to share and not extract from the true limelight. Like everything else, there's a time and place for it and it's usually on weekends when we have extra time on our hands and we're prepared to spend more time than usual in the kitchen.

There are other moments in life when the food required is the exact opposite. Times when the food needs to be fast, easy but still tasty enough to knock your socks off. The game on Saturday night or the guys getting together for some stories and finger foods. Times like these call for simpler foods with way less fuss involved. For these moments I like to bring out my chicken wings. Baked Chicken Wings with Bourbon BBQ Sauce and Lime-Cilantro Yogurt.

I try to stick with baking my wings to limit some of the adverse effects associated with the normally greasy foods. I also think I'm able to accomplish my need for a crunchy, crispy exterior without losing that soft, juicy texture inside. Once they're nice and golden brown I spoon on my Bourbon BBQ sauce which gives gives the wings a sweet, spicy and sticky sauce wrapped all around them. Since the wings have a kick to them I like to make a yogurt dipping sauce that's both cool and refreshing and fights back some of the spice.

When the football games is on during a Sunday afternoon I bring out a few dozen of these saucy wings and I find it helps calm down the masses and keep them quiet for a bit. Well, just as long as it takes until they've vanished.



Baked Wings with BBQ Sauce and Yogurt Dipping Sauce