Quick And Easy Cooking

This week’s new recipe came from Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine.  It is from the February 2009 issue.  It can also be found at http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/chicken-turkey-recipes/italian-mozzarella-wings/article.html

Italian Mozzarella Wings

Ingredients

12 chicken wings, tips discarded and wings separated at the joint 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into 24 cubes 1 large egg 1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese Salt 2 cups tomato puree 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Cut a slit into the meatiest part of each wing. Stuff each wing with a mozzarella cube and pull the meat and skin back over the cheese.
2. In a shallow bowl, beat the egg; in another shallow bowl, combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan and season with salt. Working with 1 wing at a time, coat each with the egg, then the breadcrumb mixture and place on a greased rack set on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 40 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the tomato puree and cayenne over medium heat; season with salt. Serve with the wings.

My Rating

This recipe was much easier to make than I expected.  I thought stuffing wings with cheese would be difficult, but it wasn’t hard at all.  The wings I bought were larger than normal though or at least my husband and I felt they were big. 

The cost of this recipe is a little pricey.  I spent $7.50 on the wings.  I could have easily only fixed half of the bag instead of the whole bag though.  The cheese was $4, but I was able to use that in 4 other recipes.  The parmesan cheese was $3.  I purchased a tub of it.  I used it in two recipes.  The bread crumbs were $1.50.  It’s really hard to say the exact amount that was spent since I was able to use the ingredients elsewhere.  I guess I can say the cost was under $10 if you consider using the ingredients elsewhere. 

My Ratings:

I give this 2 out of 5 for costs to make.

I give this 3 out of 5 for ease of making.

Hubby’s Rating

My husband could not really taste the cheese.  I couldn’t either.  We were both disappointed in that.  We liked the taste of the bread crumbs and the paramesan cheese.  We felt this would be much better with a pepper jack cheese and maybe caynne pepper in the bread crumb mixture. It definitely needs more spice to it for us.  I will make it again with those ingredients and let you know how it turns out. 

Hubby’s Rating is 3 out of 5