Sunday, September 11, 2011

Football Munchies: Seitan Hot Wings and Rosemary Sweet Potato Chips

This is not news to those of you who know me in real life, but I am crazy about football.  From September to February, my Sundays go something like this . . . Get up at 9.  Turn on ESPN.  Leave for bar at 10.  Arrive at bar to stand in line at 11.  Sit down at 12.  Get beer.  Watch Eagles 1-3.  Scream myself hoarse.  Go home.  Watch 4:15 game.  Watch 8:20 game,  Lather, rinse repeat.

The true football experience requires football food.  Unfortunately, most football food doesn't fall in the vegan or even vegetarian camps - cheesesteaks (Granted, I have come up with a nice vegan cheesesteak), chili nachos, etc.

But, perhaps the ultimate football food is wings, preferably hot, hot, hot.  Fortunately, this month's Vegetarian Times has a vegan version - Seitan Hot Wings.

Amazingly, I had all the ingredients in my house to make said wings.  The marinade included hot sauce (I used the Original Cholula brand), vegan mayo (I use Follow Your Heart's Soy Free Brand), maple syrup and smoked paprika.  I didn't look closely at the recipe until 7 or so.  It suggests a marinating time of 2 hours.  Oops.  But, I cut the marinating time to one hour and it was fine.  I did notice, however, when I went to bread the wings that the breading got soggy quickly and stopped sticking, so you may want to use two separate bowls for breading.  Also, I probably cut the seitan a little too small, so it was more like bites or poppers than wings.

The wings were yummy - they had a nice crispy texture and a great kick.  Husband also tried them and said I should make them again.

As a side, I made crinkle cut rosemary sweet potato chips. I used Hannah Sweet Potatoes, which, as I've mentioned in previous blogs, have a pretty yellow color.  Using the crinkle blade on my mandoline slicer, I cut very thin slices of sweet potato.  I tossed the slices with olive oil, dried rosemary, black pepper and salt.  Since the oven had to be at 350 for the wings, I did the sweet potato at that temp, though I usually prefer to go at least 425 with potatoes.  However, I figured slicing them extra thin would help.  They were in the oven for about 40 minutes (10 minutes more than the wings), and I tuned them once halfway through.  Thanks to our uneven oven, some of them got nice and crispy, but others could have used more time.

I added some leftover corn salad from last night - it was just as good cold as it was hot.

Overall, I would definitely make the wings and potato chips again.  And we still have 15 regular season weeks to go, not to mention playoffs, so I'll have many an opportunity!

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