Saturday Night Sampler Platter

The first law of dietetics seems to be: if it tastes good, it's bad for you.
~Isaac Asimov

Sometimes, when dining out, I'll order the sampler platter from the appetizer selection. It's always a nice selection of tasty sounding food and usually more filling than anything else on the menu. The appetizers at most restaurants are deep fried - yes, that makes them tasty, but it also makes them much of a sameness. I only fried the (pre-packaged) cheese sticks tonight. The wings were prepared in three styles so as to suit all tastes.

The Recipes

Chicken Wings - 3 Styles
Ingredients:
3 lbs chicken drumettes
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup melted butter
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco
Cayenne Pepper
Salt and pepper
Your favorite barbecue sauce

Preparation for 3 different Chicken Wings:
Hot Wings:
Mix 1/4 cup honey, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/4 cup melted butter, 3 generous splashes Worcestershire Sauce, 2 splashes Tabasco (more or less to taste), 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste), 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper
Marinate chicken drumettes in this mixture for 1 hour.

Hot Barbecue Wings:
Mix 1/3 cup favorite barbecue sauce, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 2 splashes Tabasco (more or less to taste), 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)

Barbecue Wings:
1/2 cup your favorite barbecue sauce

Preparation for ALL Wings:
Place drumettes (including the marinated hot wings) on a cookie sheet and BROIL for 12 minutes
Remove wings from broiler, re-heat oven to 350 degrees
Place drumettes in oven-safe pans
Cover 1/3 (the marinated) wings with the rest of the marinade
Cover 1/3 with the hot barbecue sauce
Cover 1/3 with (plain) your favorite barbecue sauce
Bake for 25-30 minutes

Serve with celery and bleu cheese dressing

Olives:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh large green olives (pitted, no pimento)
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp basil
Garlic (to taste)
Preparation:
In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat
Add garlic, pepper, thyme, and basil to oil and stir until you can smell the wonderful aroma
Add olives and sauté for 5 minutes

Cheese Sticks
Prepare according to package instructions (I fried these in vegetable oil, but oven cooked is also good for this type of pre-packaged food stuff).

My notes: The wings were great - texture was perfect! Could have used more heat, though. It's hard to sample the hotness when vinegar is in play - next time I make wings I will add the vinegar last so that I can assess the heat of the wings more accurately. I wasn't sure about the olives when I started, but ... YUMMY!

I also served parmesan bread sticks with the platter.