This Memorial Day, prepare a classic that everyone loves!  This homemade wings recipe is from Robb Walsh’s latest book, The Hot Sauce Cookbook.  Tangy, savory, and spicy – nothing goes better with these wings than classic blue cheese dressing.

Homemade Buffalo Chicken Wings
from The Hot Sauce Cookbook by Robb Walsh (Ten Speed Press, 2013)

5 pounds chicken wings (about 30 whole wings or 60 wing pieces)
1 cup Frank’s RedHot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce or Frank’s RedHot–Style Pepper Sauce (page 86)
½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup blue cheese dressing, for serving
12 celery stalks, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. If desired, leave the wings whole. To split the wings into smaller pieces, first cut off the wing tips and save them for stock. Rinse the wings, split into two parts at the joint and pat dry. Place the wings (or wing pieces) on the pans in a single layer. Bake the wings, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until cooked through and slightly crispy. Remove from the oven and place in a large mixing bowl.

Combine the hot sauce and melted butter. Set aside ½ cup of the mixture. Pour the rest over the cooked chicken wings. (If your bowl isn’t large enough, mix the wings and sauce in several batches.) The wings can be held at this stage in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.

To serve, preheat your broiler on high and broil the wings for 5 minutes on each side, brushing with the reserved sauce. Serve with blue cheese dressing and celery stalks.

To see more from The Hot Sauce Cookbook and order your copy, check out our Scribd excerpt, below:

Recipes From the Hot Sauce Cookbook by Robb Walsh by TheRecipeClub

Memorial Day is just around the corner, folks! In honor of the holiday that officially kicks off summer barbecue season, we thought we’d go to the Grillmaster himself, Bobby Flay, for some of his best tips for backyard barbecues. Check out the excerpt at the end of the post for more tips and delicious recipes from Bobby’s new cookbook, Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction (Clarkson Potter, April 2013).

Bobby Flay’s Top 10 Tips for Backyard Barbecues:

1. Prep in Advance. Don’t wait until your friends arrive to start brining chicken, marinating lamb, or even forming burgers for that matter. Prepping in advance is key for any kind of party, outdoor ones included. Having most of the work done ahead of time frees you up to spend more time with your guests. Salads and relishes can be prepped a day ahead; veggies for the grill can be sliced; and pitchers of cocktails can be mixed in advance and refrigerated until guests arrive. Fill your chimney starter with charcoal and newspaper or have your gas grill preheating. Remember that preparation is half the battle.

2. Get organized. Before you light that first coal or flip the switch on your gas grill, make sure you have everything you need nearby so that you don’t have to run back and forth into your house to find that pair of tongs or peppermill while your food is burning on the grill.

3. Have extra everything. Make sure you have enough charcoal and wood chips; keep a spare gas tank on hand in case yours runs out in the middle of grilling dinner for ten of your closest friends. If someone wants to know what to bring, say a bag of ice! Which leads me to . . .

4. Stock the cooler. You can make a signature cocktail or serve beer and wine— just make sure it’s easy for guests to serve themselves and that everything is nice and cold when they arrive. Nobody likes warm beer, well except for the British . . .

5. Have something ready to nibble on. Whether you make a dip or cold appetizer that can be ready and waiting, or you’ve planned a super-quick grilled dish to start, make sure you’ve got something on hand for people to snack on while you get to the main event. Free-flowing alcohol and no food is a recipe for disaster.

6. No poking. This is a very common rookie mistake. If you poke meat on the grill, the juices will come out and your food will dry out. So using meat carvers or forks to flip your food is not recommended; go for tongs and heavy-duty spatulas.

7. Don’t slather on sauces until the end. You can marinate your food before grilling to make it more flavorful. But do not coat meat with barbecue sauce during the actual cooking process. This can cause flare-ups, and the high sugar content in sauces and glazes can burn, leaving you with an inedible mess. Resist brushing until the last five minutes or so, and always feel free to re-slather once the food comes off the grill.

8. Cook everything properly. Nothing really ruins a party like undercooked or overcooked food. When in doubt, it is always better to undercook because you can simply put the food back on the grill and continue to cook it until it is at the proper temperature. Unfortunately, once a piece of fish or a beautiful thick rib eye is overcooked, there is nothing you can do to make it moist again.

9. Take time to rest. Not you, the food. I have said it a million times and I will say it again: Never cut into meat or fish as soon as it comes off the grill. Let the food rest and relax to allow the juices to redistribute and stay inside. I typically rest smaller cuts like fish fillets and chicken breasts for 5 minutes, thick steaks and whole chickens for 10 minutes, and large roasts for 20 minutes. Tent loosely with foil to keep warm.

10. Keep it casual. A meal prepared outdoors on the grill invites everyone to loosen up and enjoy the party. The whole idea of grilling is to be relaxed and festive. Serve food family style on big platters, have cocktail shakers and ingredients for drinks ready to go, and lots of beer and sodas on ice so guests can help themselves. That’s my kind of entertaining. Give it a try and have fun!

Get free recipes from Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction here:

The Casserole Queens are making it their mission to resurrect the classic American casserole. This fantastic recipe for French Toast Casserole from The Casserole Queens Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, 2011) can be made the night before and kept chilled in the fridge overnight. It’s a great recipe to have on hand when hosting guests for brunch or for the weekend. All you’ll have to do the next morning is pop it in the oven!

Frenchy Toast Casserole
Recipe from The Casserole Queens Cookbook
6 to 8 servings

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 loaf extra-thick sliced white bread, such as Texas Toast, crusts removed
2 cups whole milk
6 large eggs
1 cup your favorite berries

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon and stir to make a paste. Spread the paste in the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish. Lay the bread on top of the paste in two layers.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, and remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Pour the mixture over the bread in the dish. Bake for 30 minutes, or until top has risen a little and is golden brown. Top with berries when serving.

This sandwich recipe from Try This at Home: Recipes from My Head to Your Plate (Clarkson Potter, February 2013) by Top Chef Richard Blais is a new twist on the classic BLT. Instead of bacon, Blais uses cured, smoked pork belly and slow-roasts it in the oven; it is an interesting way to coax flavor and texture out of an unexpected source. Instead of the tomatoes that give the traditional BLT a bright acidity, this recipe calls for tart pickled radishes. You can also add a few slices of fresh peaches when they’re in season, as their sweetness adds another level of flavor and fun (persimmons are a nice alternative). Some people forget tomatoes are fruit—you can always play around and switch out a tomato for another slightly sweet, fleshy fruit (such as persimmon, peach, or apple). Get creative!

Pork Belly Sandwich
Recipe from Try This at Home by Richard Blais
Makes 4 sandwiches

For the Pork Belly:
One 1-pound slab rind-on smoked pork belly (or slab bacon)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

For the Sandwiches:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Juice of 1⁄2 lime
1 avocado, halved, pitted, and sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 sandwich-style croissants split in half, or alternatively, some good-quality white bread
1⁄4 cup Smoked Aioli
1⁄2 cup drained Pickled Radishes
1 cup arugula leaves, watercress sprigs, or flat leaf parsley
1 ripe peach, persimmon, or apple, halved, pitted, and sliced (optional)

1. To cook the pork belly: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Place a double layer of aluminum foil on a baking sheet and set the pork belly in the center fat side up. Season on both sides with salt and pepper and smear the Dijon evenly over the meat side (not the rind). Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the mustard and press so it adheres.

2. Wrap the pork tightly in the foil and roast for 3 hours. Let cool to room temperature.

3. Peel the rind off the pork belly and discard. Wrap the belly tightly in plastic wrap and chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, at least 2 hours and up to 5 days.

4. To make the sandwiches: Unwrap the pork and slice it into 8 even slices. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear on both sides until crisp, about 1 minute per side. Drain on paper towels.

5. Sprinkle the lime juice over the avocado slices and season them lightly with salt and pepper.

6. Spread 1 tablespoon of the smoked aioli on 4 of the bread slices. Top the remaining 4 pieces of bread with 2 slices pork belly each, followed by some pickled radishes, one-quarter of the arugula leaves, and one-quarter of the avocado slices; top with several peach slices, if using. Put the top bread slices in place and serve immediately.

This refreshing and delicious salad from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Veg just screams summer. The buttery avocado is perfectly balanced with the acidity of the grapefruit, and the spicy chile gives this salad the perfect little kick.

Avocado and Ruby Grapefruit with Chile
from River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Ten Speed Press, 2013)

SERVES 2

1 ruby or pink grapefruit
1 small avocado
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 small or medium fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
A small handful of cilantro leaves
Extra-virgin olive oil

Slice off the top and bottom from the grapefruit. Stand it upright on a board and work your way around the fruit with a sharp knife, cutting off the skin and all the pith. Now hold it in your hand over a bowl to catch the juice and cut out the segments from between the membranes, letting the segments fall into the bowl. Squeeze the juice from the remaining membrane into the bowl, too.

Halve, peel, and pit the avocado, then cut lengthwise into thin slices. Arrange on a large plate with the grapefruit segments and trickle over the saved juice.

Sprinkle a little salt, pepper, and the chopped chile over the salad. Finish with the cilantro and a generous trickle of olive oil. Serve right away.

To see additional recipes and pre-order your copy, check out our Scribd excerpt, below:

River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Recipes by TheRecipeClub

Emma Shafer is a member of the Crown Publicity team at Random House. She is obsessed with one-pot meals, stovetop popcorn, and finding the perfect summer cocktail.

In his new book, VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good (Clarkson Potter, April 2013), author Mark Bittman is a huge proponent of stir-fry dinners. Stir-fries are endlessly customizable, fast, fresh and delicious. Unlike some of my coworkers, I haven’t started trying out the VB6 lifestyle yet, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to make a ton of the recipes from the book! One night last week, I decided to try out his dinner (non-vegan) recipe for Steak and Broccoli Stir-Fry.

Because the cooking part of recipes like this tends to sneak up on you and be over in a flash, I like to prep all of the components of the recipe before I heat my skillet (or dutch oven if you’re like me and only have one pot that’s big enough).

First, I put the flank steak in the freezer as Bittman suggests, to make it easier to slice. Next, I started a batch of brown rice on the stove. With those two ingredients underway, I spent the next 30 minutes prepping and chopping all my other ingredients – broccoli in bite-size pieces, diced garlic and ginger, sliced lime for juice, roughly chopped nuts, and thinly sliced green onions. I also got out my olive oil, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and filled a liquid measure with water.

Once the meat was sliced, I was ready to start and everything came together in a snap. Don’t forget to turn off your rice when it’s finished cooking – I narrowly avoided a kitchen disaster on this front. Bittman notes that the same basic recipe can be used with any ingredients and I made a few minor modifications (red pepper flakes instead of chilies and cashews instead of peanuts) to account for what I already had on-hand in my apartment and the recipe still turned out great. I’m looking forward to making it again, maybe with shrimp and snow peas!

Steak and Broccoli Stir-Fry
Recipe from VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good by Mark Bittman

Makes: 4 servings
Time: 30 minutes

4 tablespoons vegetable oil
12 ounces beef flank or sirloin steak, very thinly sliced (easiest if you freeze the meat for 30 minutes)
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced fresh hot chile (like jalapeño or Thai; optional)
1½ pounds broccoli, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces
½ cup chopped scallions
2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more to taste
Juice of 1 lime or ½ lemon (optional)
¼ cup chopped peanuts or cashews
3 cups cooked long- or short-grain brown rice

1. Put a large, deep skillet over high heat. When it’s hot, add 1 tablespoon of the oil, swirl it around, and add the beef. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of the salt and some pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef starts to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate.

2. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil, then the garlic, ginger, and chile, if you’re using it. After 15 seconds, add the broccoli and all but a handful of the scallions. Cook, stirring infrequently, until the broccoli is bright green and beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the remaining ½ teaspoon salt and ½ cup of water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the broccoli is almost tender, another minute or two more.

3. Return the meat to the pan along with the soy sauce and lime juice, if you’re using it, and a little more water if the mixture is dry. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced slightly. Stir in the peanuts, then taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary; garnish with the remaining scallions, and serve over the rice.

Nutritional Info (with ¾ cup brown rice):
Calories: 572 • Cholesterol: 55mg • Fat: 28g • Saturated Fat: 5g • Protein: 31g • Carbohydrates: 54g • Sodium: 1510mg • Fiber: 10g • Trans Fat: 0g • Sugars: 6g

In his latest book, River Cottage Veg,  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall shares over 200 recipes that show vegetables are not limited to supporting roles in a meal. This salad is no exception—bursting with flavor and completely fish-free, making it a delicious and substantial lunch that your mom is sure to love.

Fish-Free Salad Nicoise
from River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (Ten Speed Press, 2013)

SERVES 4

1 pound / 500g new potatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 ounces / 200g green beans, cut into roughly 1-inch / 2.5cm lengths
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 or 3 Little Gem or similar lettuces
A handful of small black olives
About 12 large basil leaves, torn (or use small ones whole)

FOR THE DRESSING:

1/2 small garlic clove, crushed with a little coarse sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
A pinch of sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

You can cook small new potatoes whole, but cut larger ones in half or smaller so the pieces are all roughly the same size. Put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with cold water, add salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 8 to 12 minutes until tender, adding the beans for the last 4 minutes of cooking. Drain, tip into a bowl, and leave to cool.

To cook the eggs, bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add the eggs, return to a simmer, then cook for 7 minutes. Remove the eggs from the pan, lightly crack the shells, and run the eggs under cold water for a minute or two to stop the cooking. Leave to cool, then peel and quarter the eggs.

To make the dressing, put the garlic, oil, vinegar, mustard, and sugar into a screw-top jar, season with salt and pepper, and shake until emulsified.

Halve, quarter, or thickly slice the cooked potatoes. Put them back with the beans, add some of the dressing, and toss together gently.

Separate the lettuce leaves and gently toss in a bowl with a little of the dressing. Arrange the lettuce, potatoes, and beans on a serving platter and distribute the olives and eggs over the salad. Scatter with the torn basil, trickle over the remaining dressing, and grind over some pepper. Serve right away, with bread.

To see more recipes from River Cottage Veg and pre-order your copy, check out our Scribd excerpt, below:

River Cottage Veg by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Recipes by TheRecipeClub

Iced Berries with Limoncello White Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Nigellissima by Nigella Lawson
Serves 4–6

This is a contemporary classic, invented by the great British chef Mark Hix, but Nigella has taken the liberty of speeding up the sauce-making process, and—crucially—adding limoncello for an Italian touch, which gives a real edge to the ultra-rich white chocolate. This is a different take on a typical Mother’s Day dessert, but it looks gorgeous and it seems like a special treat for mom. Go ahead, grab a spoon (make sure to give your mom a spoon first) and dig in.

1 cup heavy cream
1⁄4 cup limoncello (lemon liqueur)
7 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
1 pound frozen mixed berries (unthawed)

Put the heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of the limoncello in a small saucepan, and heat it until just about to come to a boil, but not actually boiling.

Take the pan off the heat and add the white chocolate, then swirl the pan about so that it is all submerged.

Take the berries out of the freezer and arrange them in a single layer in a dish or plate that has a small lip (so that the sauce doesn’t drip off later). Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of limoncello and leave for 5 minutes, during which time you can swirl your white chocolate pan about every now and again to help the chocolate melt into the lemony cream.

Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate-cream mixture, still off the heat, until it’s smooth, then pour it over the berries and serve immediately.

Dress up a classic side dish this Mother’s Day with a great green bean recipe from Barefoot Contessa Foolproof. Green beans come alive with some zesty lemon and parsley, sharp Parmesan cheese, and crunchy pine nuts.

Green Beans Gremolata
Recipe from Barefoot Contessa Foolproof
Serves 4 to 6

1 pound French green beans, trimmed
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
3 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts (see note)
2½ tablespoons good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the green beans and blanch them for 2 to 3 minutes, until tender but still crisp. Drain the beans in a colander and immediately put them into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and preserve their bright green color.

For the gremolata, toss the garlic, lemon zest, parsley, Parmesan, and pine nuts in a small bowl and set aside. When ready to serve, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Drain the beans and pat them dry. Add the beans to the pan and sauté, turning frequently, for 2 minutes, until coated with olive oil and heated through. Off the heat, add the gremolata and toss well. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and serve hot.