Chicken Wings Italian Style

Russ, Cash and I went up to Mentone this Saturday and we went low key as far as food is concerned. For dinner we just grilled out steaks and served it with corn on the cob and salad. Simple and yummy! We did do a fun, new appetizer. One of my favorite shows on the Food Network is Everyday Italian with Giada. We had it on the other day and she was making Balsamic Chicken Drumettes. Russ and I love wings and most of Giada’s recipes, so this was a perfect recipe for us to try.

You start by preparing the marinade. You cut the garlic in half, add honey, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and rosemary sprigs. You then put the chicken drumettes in the bag and let them marinate for 2 hours. After two hours you cook the chicken. Russ and I decided to grill them since we were already firing up the grill for the steaks. You then take the leftover marinade and put it in a sauce pan. Let the sauce come to a boil and then reduce the heat to let it simmer and reduce. Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce reduced then you brush some of the sauce over the chicken and top it with chopped parsley and toasted sesame seeds except we didn’t have any sesame seeds.

Overall Russ and I really liked the flavor of the drumettes. We did think that they would have been better with even more flavor from the marinade. Next time we will try baking them (as Giada did) instead of grilling to see if it helps keep more of the flavor from the marinade. Another change we'll try is instead of brushing the sauce over them I think we will just pour it all over them. We also did not like the parsley added to the top. It added great color, but the texture and flavor took away from the wings. Next time I’ll either try the sesame seeds or garnish them with chopped green onions. Russ and I thought these were good, but have the potential to be great. We’ll definitely try them again with a few changes. Russ rates them a 7.