Hot Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

There are a few restaurants famed for their buffalo wings, but of course they have 'secret recipes'. Well, I worked on it and after a lot of trial and error I came up with this recipe – and I love it. It can't be classed as low fat, but can be a treat once in a while ... and what a treat it is!

Ingredients

1 tray of chicken wings (normally contains 16)

A light sprinkle of cayenne pepper (optional)

Oil for deep frying

50g butter

6 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons Tabasco sauce (4 if you like it hotter)

3 tablespoons tomato purée

Juice of half a lemon

A few sticks of celery to serve

For the blue cheese dip

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

3 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Finely chopped parsley

Small clove of garlic, peeled and minced

3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese

Sea salt and black pepper to season

Method

• Combine all the ingredients for the dip and place in the fridge for at least an hour.

• The chicken wings need to be cut at the two joints (into three pieces but discard the wing tip) with a heavy, sharp knife. Sprinkle lightly with cayenne pepper if you like them extra spicy.

• Deep fry in batches for about 10 minutes per batch until cooked through and nice and crispy; they can be kept in a warm oven until all the batches are deep fried (I usually do them in three batches).

• In the meantime in a saucepan gently melt the butter, then add the cider vinegar, Tabasco sauce and tomato purée and whisk it together until combined. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon at the end.

• Place the cooked wings in a large bowl and pour over the sauce and toss to give a good even coat.

• Serve with the cooling blue cheese dip and a few sticks of celery.