Looking at this menu I’m sure you think this is a Super Bowl party menu, and I completely understand why you’d come to that conclusion, but in fact it’s all about what was on sale at the market.  I’m not a sports enthusiast, never have been and more often than not have planned parties on Super Bowl Sunday oblivious to the conflict.  So it’s no surprise that as I was doing my usual marketing yesterday I was surprised by the extra folks in the store, and then pleased with the $10.00 slabs of ribs and $10.00 bag of chicken wings.  So, I figured what the heck, who doesn’t like ribs and wings?

Since it is NOT a Super Bowl party I didn’t want to do buffalo wings, or standard honey BBQ ribs, this was our Sunday night supper, and hopefully a couple of days of leftovers so I wanted different flavors.

My favorite wings are the Kosher chicken drumettes they sell at Whole Foods in the frozen section, they are plump, meaty, and juicy and I wanted them to have light flavors. I let them defrost overnight in the fridge before I macerate them.   First I drizzled them with apricot balsamic vinegar and then coated them with a simple rub of palm sugar, chipotle, garlic powder, and onion powder.  I let them macerate and then placed them on a cookie sheet and baked them.  The ribs had a similar treatment but I wanted deeper flavors so they were coated with espresso balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, followed by a classic rub of cumin, and chile powder.  I used palm coconut sugar in both the recipes because I like it’s not too sweet flavor and brown sugar overtones.  If I have overnight, I’ll let them sit overnight, but they need at least an hour before cooking.  Once the ribs were cooked I brushed them lightly with BBQ sauce, I used Rufus Teague’s sauce, but whatever you have on hand is fine.  Whenever I serve wings and ribs I have to have coleslaw, and today was no exception.  I want something cold and crisp to balance the richness of the meat.  There are coleslaw recipes on this blog and any of them will do for this menu.

On another day I probably would have made corn bread, but today I wanted something different.  I made gluten free coconut muffins.  They are moist and dense and now I’ll have some fun leftovers for breakfast.  This whole menu was done in a couple of hours, one of which was devoted to the meat macerating, so it’s fast and easy to prepare any time you don’t want to have a Super Bowl party!

Line you pan with tinfoil for both the wings and the ribs for an easier clean-up.

Apricot Palm Coconut Sugar Wings

2 pounds chicken wings

2 T apricot balsamic vinegar (if you can’t find apricot, any fruit vinegar will do)
2 T palm coconut sugar
1 t powdered chipotle
1 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
olive oil

Place wings in a large bowl and toss them with the vinegar.  In a small bowl combine the sugar, chipotle, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mix well.  Pour the spices on the wings and rub to coat the wings.  Cover and let sit room temperature for an hour.  If you have longer to let the wings macerate, cover them and refrigerate until ready to cook.

When ready to cook, heat the oven to 375.  Line a jelly roll pan with tin foil and brush with olive oil.  Pour the wings onto the pan and arrange in a single layer.  Place in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until wings are browned and caramelized.

Serves 4-6

Gluten Free Coconut Muffins

1/2 C coconut milk

1/2 C water
2 T coconut oil, melted
1 t vanilla
1/4 C palm coconut flour
3 eggs
1/2 C coconut flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/3 C flaked coconut
2 T butter, room temperature-for coating the pan

Heat oven to 375.  Brush room temperate butter in muffin pan (recipe makes 9 muffins).  In a medium bowl whisk together the first 6 ingredients.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth.  Spoon the batter into the cupcake pan only filling 2/3 full.  Place in a preheated oven and bake 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool ten minutes before removing from the pan.  The muffins are very tender and will fall a part easily.

Makes 9 muffins.

Espresso Rubbed Ribs

1 slab baby back ribs

2 T espresso balsamic vinegar (or other deep flavored vinegar)
1 t Worcestershire sauce
2 T palm coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 T chile powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
olive oil
1/4 C BBQ sauce

Line a jelly roll pan with foil and brush with olive oil  Place the slab on the pan and pour the espresso vinegar and Worcestershire sauce on the meat and rub all over both sides of the meat.  In a small bowl combine the sugar, chile powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, mix well, pour onto the meat and rub in evenly on both sides.  Let the meat sit at room temperature for an hour.  If the meat will be resting longer, cover the meat with foil and place in the fridge until ready to cook.  When ready to cook heat the oven to 375.  Cover the slab of ribs with foil and place in the oven for 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven, and remove the foil.  Brush the ribs on both sides with BBQ sauce and return to the oven uncovered for 15 minutes or until they are a deep mahogany color.  Remove from the oven and let sit room temp. for about 10 minutes before cutting the ribs and serving.

Serves 4.