It's rare I find myself cooking a "typical" American dish like wings. For some reason all of those typical dishes fall outside of my arsenal of recipe skills. Take mac and cheese--I have never, not even when I was at my height of pasta eating- made mac and cheese from scratch. (Saying that out load makes me want to make some, just for the hell of it).

Making a stir fry, taco bowl, or curry feels more intuitive to me, but when the Super Bowl rolls around I feel this need to make something more classic. It is, after all, pretty much the only day of the year that I tune in to one of pop culture's most iconic events. Still... I can't help but flex some creative muscle and make an avocado cream sauce on the side, but since these wings themselves are sauced in a sticky and sweet chipotle barbeque sauce, it feels miles away from anything ethnic.

Even though this recipe sits outside of my typical comfort zone, I'm crazy for it. And who wouldn't be? These wings are the type of wings that require plenty of napkins because their sticky sauce is destined to cover your fingers. I learned quickly that quadrupling the recipe would be wise: a dozen wings is never enough (for two, or for a group).

Chipotle BBQ Wings with Avocado Cream

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free | Caitlin Sherwood

Chipotle gives the BBQ for these wings a bit of a kick, while avocado cream cools it down.

Yields: 12 | Total Active Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup barbeque sauce (I used Stubb's Smokey Mesquite Bar-B-Q Sauce)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup chipotles in adobo (canned)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
A dozen chicken wings
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Avocado Cream Sauce:

1 avocado
1/4 cup milk of choice
1/2 cup cilantro leaves (loose, not packed)
Juice of 1 lime

Directions:

Prep the wings: use a paper towel to remove any excess moisture from wings, and place in a bowl.
Make the sauce: combine barbeque sauce, coconut oil, chipotles in adobo, cayenne (if you like things really spicy, you can add more cayenne), and salt in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour half of the sauce over the wings, and allow to marinate for 8-24 hours, in the fridge, covered.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 450°F. Remove wings from bowl and discard extra sauce. Place a wire cooling wrack on top of a baking sheet, and place wings on wire wrack, with about 1 inch between each wing. Place in oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, until internal wing temperature reaches 165°F and skin is crispy on the outside.
Using tongs, place wings in a mixing bowl. Pour about 1/4 cup of sauce over top, and toss to coat. Add more sauce as desired.
To make avocado cream sauce: Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.
Serve wings on a platter along side bowl of cream sauce. Optional: garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

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Garlic Rosemary Shrimp & Paleo Cocktail Sauce (made without ketchup!)

Shrimp with cocktail sauce is not something I ate growing up. The entire category of shellfish was on my short list of foods that sucked, right there next to tomatoes, ketchup, asparagus, and carrots. I have only a few memories of actually eating shellfish as a kid, and most of them include my dad sneaking tiny shrimp into stews to see if I could detect them.

Clearly, I just didn't understand that shrimp, roasted and tossed with garlic and rosemary is a gift from the sea. (I eventually learned to like everything on that list, aside from ketchup--ugh!).

I've also learned to appreciate a really good cocktail sauce. One that's zesty. One that actually makes the shrimp taste better, instead of masking it. On that does not include--you guessed it-ketchup. Instead it's made with real tomatoes, horseradish, and garlic. A bit of cayenne, and some lemon juice to round it out. When you start putting real ingredients in cocktail sauce, it actually becomes a power food! Did you know that horseradish is considered a cruciferous vegetable? With molecules called glucosinolates, it's been show to help fight cancer. Horseradish has ten times more glucosinlates than broccoli... So dig in already!

The beauty of this recipe is it's flexibility. Sensitive tastebuds? Hold the cayenne. Timid when it comes to garlic? Add a little, taste it, and add some more. It's easy to take this recipe and turn it into you own signature sauce concoction.

Garlic Rosemary Shrimp & Paleo Cocktail Sauce (made without ketchup!)

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free | Caitlin Sherwood

More shrimp! Less ketchup.

Serves: 4 | Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Shrimp:

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the Cocktail Sauce:

1 cup canned diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 to 1 ounce piece of fresh horseradish
3 cloves garlic
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss the shrimp with the melted oil, minced garlic, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Spread the shrimp out on a cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, until shrimp are pink and cooked through.
While shrimp cooks, prepare sauce: If you are using a high speed blender, add all of the ingredients and puree until smooth. If you are using a standard blender or food processor, mince the garlic and shred the horseradish with a microplane and then whisk all of the ingredients until combined.
Serve shrimp warm on a platter alongside a bowl of sauce.