Continental cooking

Last night my sister said "Go America"...cheering the simple yet flavorful dinner of turkey wings, yams, brussel sprouts.

Growing up, we consumed parts of the turkey - breast, chops, ground meat - but never the wings or legs. Two years ago I began loving turkey wings. My mother-in-law is not a great cook but she makes some nice dishes. Generally she cooks an assortment of things when she has gatherings - a little bit of everything. At one dinner she made a little bit of turkey wings, such that we each had one...they were delicious...the next time I wanted turkey wings, I asked her to make them...my Aunt Liz couldn't believe that I didn't know how to make turkey wings...she said the secret was to season them well and slow cook them with a bit of liquid...that explained why I failed the one time I tried to convection cook the turkey wings. Once I mastered the technique, we were eating turkey wings pretty regularly - it was the easiest semblance of a meal I could produce given my tight schedule.

I was at a function Saturday night...there was an smorgasbord of not-so-tasty food that included turkey wings; the only good thing was my aunt-in-law's cabbage...I still can't figure out how she makes it...though I think it has something to do with the cooking technique - the cabbage is almost caramelized (I should've taken a picture of it). The turkey wings were so lacking that I decided to make them for Sunday dinner. I picked up 2 stalks of brussel sprouts (I sautéed onions then simmered these in just a bit of liquid) and yams (simmered in OJ) from TJs as accompaniments.

The dinner was attractive and bursting with flavor...good ole fashioned home cookin'.