Downton Abbey Tea Sandwich Extravaganza

Laura always makes me delicious food so today I wanted to make her something. I combined the two things she loves most: Downton Abbey and sandwiches. So I embarked on an epic Downton Abbey themed tea sandwich extravaganza. 

I decided to make four kinds of sandwiches: Coronation Chicken, Spicy Tuna, Cucumber, and Salami. I also made an English Trifle for dessert.

Coronation Chicken was by far the most time intensive and the most delicious! I started by preparing the chicken. I combined cooked breasts with sour cream and curry powder, poured the mixture into a bowl, and let the flavors combine in the fridge over the afternoon. Then I started preparing the mango chutney I'd add later. In a saucepan I combined distilled white vinegar, sugar, mango, raisins, garlic, mustard, crystallized ginger, and onions.

Then I started chopping the ingredients while the chutney bubbled. I sliced a cucumber in thin slivers and added some salt to dry them out a little.

Then I checked on the chutney again. Looking good!

Then I made the filling for the spicy tuna sandwiches. Pictured is diced sweet pickles, red onions, and Sriracha. 

Then I checked on the chutney again. The chopped mango and raisins looked more vibrant in color.

Baked Garlic Chicken Wings

Taunting Twilly with a baked garlic chicken wing.

Making the perfect chicken wing is one of my greatest challenges in life. Today I got a little closer to winning that battle.

My mother is a chicken stockpiler. She always keeps an ample supply of frozen chicken - breasts, thighs, and wings - from Aldi in our basement freezer, so I grab a bag of wings and try a new recipe or technique whenever I'm feeling a bit inventive. I haven't found the perfect wing yet. I think the root of my dissatisfaction lies in a fact I try hard to ignore: I will never make chicken wings as good as D's. But I'll keep trying!

This evening I was looking for a healthy recipe. A lot of recipes I found were for fried wings or called for white sugar and brown sugar. So I refined my search to those that were baked and did not call for sweetener. I found this recipe and adjusted it to the one below.

• 24 medium-sized chicken wings
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 6 or so cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Combine olive oil, garlic, spices, and lemon juice in a large ziploc bag.

Add chicken and toss it around with mixture.

Pour it all onto a baking sheet. Cook at 400 degrees for 60 minutes. 

About 30 minutes into baking time, pour all the

sauce into a pan, reduce it, and sift out the fat.

Remove wings from the oven when they look nice and crisp.

Add wings to a bowl with your reduced sauce and shake!

Drain sauce again (so they don't get soggy) and serve.

Next time I make wings I'm trying a slow cooker recipe. Bye bye!