Let's go nostalgic for a moment and think about how fun it is to go out for a festive dinner with friends and the crew makes the rare (at least for me) choice to indulge in an appetizer sampler platter. And let's assume for a moment that it's not one of those appetizer platters with one-third of the items being, to your taste, unappetizing. It puts me in a frame of mind to wistfully remember the old Darryl's restaurants in Raleigh that were a staple of high school, college, and early career life. Until they closed up shop in the early 2000s, following the chain's purchase by the struggling Houlihan's, a trip to Darryl's was always a treat. A place like that had appetizer platter choices you could really get into. And over the holidays, a nagging desire to try making an appetizer platter for supper one night had been bubbling up and, Sunday a week ago, I finally got around to doing it. I sort of went all out on it, even though it had but three items (and two different dipping sauces!).
First up: southwestern egg rolls, probably best known or associated with Chili's. I brined and then grilled a chicken breast, and then finely diced it. I sauteed green onion and roasted red pepper. I mixed it all together and added corn kernels, black beans, chopped spinach, diced jalapenos, and a collection of various spices and herbs. Mixed with a combination of cheeses, wrapped carefully like a burrito and then sealed with an egg wash, frozen for a few hours, and gloriously deep-fried to a gorgeous deep golden-brown...these were unbelievable. The avocado dipping sauce (foreground of picture below) was also spot-on.
Next up: potato skins. Not hard to make but it's nice when you can nudge them up the tasty scale a bit, which seemed to work out just as intended. I fried up some bacon, diced more fresh scallions, and mixed up the cheese choices a bit. Nothing better than a huge dollop of sour cream for these babies.
And finally, my first-ever attempt at wings, and this time I went with a sticky-crispy Asian version. I'd already made the blue cheese sauce to dip them in before settling on the version of wings to make, and they didn't necessarily match perfectly...but it was all still really delicious.
"Southwestern Egg Rolls," by Jackie on AllRecipes.com.
Guidance on Egg Roll Assembly from "Southwestern Egg Rolls with Avocado Dipping Sauce," by Sic_Girl on Instructables.com.
Helpful guidance for grilling chicken breasts came from: "How to Grill the Juiciest Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts," by Joshua Bousel of SeriousEats.com.
"Sticky AND Crispy Asian Chicken Wings," by Nicky of Kitchen Sanctuary. Published 21 December 2017.
"Rich and Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing," from Cook's Illustrated. Published May 1, 1999.
"Serious Potato Skins," by Sam Sifton of New York Time Cooking.
