SESAME-HONEY GRILLED CHICKEN WINGS

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon Asian chili paste

1 pounds chicken wings, tips removed, cut apart at joint

1/2 cup honey

1 -1/2 teaspoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1 green onion, trimmed and chopped

In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, ginger, garlic and chili paste. Add chicken and let marinate for 15 minutes stirring often.

Set up a gas or charcoal grill for medium heat (350 to 400; you can hold your hand 5 inch above the cooking grate only 5 to 7 seconds). Put chicken on grill and cover with lid. Cook, turning often, until golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine honey and hoisin sauce. Using a pastry brush, generously baste chicken wings with honey glaze. Cover grill with lid and cook till honey glaze starts to caramelize, about 3 minutes. Turn chicken wings over and baste again, using the remaining honey glaze. Cook 3 minutes more, being careful not to let the glaze burn, removing pieces from the grill as they're done.

Transfer to a platter. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion. Serve any remaining honey glaze on the side.

YIELD: makes 6 to 8 appetizer servings or 2 main course servings

MOJITO SHRIMP

1 to 1-1/2 pounds peeled, deveined shrimp (21 to 30 per lb, tails on)

2 tablespoons fresh lime

Mint sprigs for garnish

Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for high heat (you can hold your hand 1 to 2 inch above grate only 1 to 2 seconds). Meanwhile, put shrimp in a 11-gal, resealable plastic bag and pour in marinade (recipe below). Seal and marinate at room temperature 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove shrimp, reserving marinade. Thread shrimp onto 6 to 7 (10 to 14 inch) metal or bamboo skewers.

Arrange shrimp on grill and baste with marinade (dab some mint and shallots onto shrimp); close lid. Cook until shrimp are just beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn shrimp over, baste again and close lid. Cook 1 to 2 minutes until browned but still moist in center ( cut to check). Transfer shrimp to a patter, drizzle with lime juice and garnish with mint sprigs.

MOJITO MARINADE

20 chopped fresh mint leaves

1/3 cup sugar

1 thinly sliced shallot

1/3 cup light rum

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

In a medium bowl, combine mint leaves, sugar and shallot. Pound with a wooden spoon to crush coarsely.

Whisk in rum, lime juice, oil lime zest and salt. Whisk until salt dissolves.

YIELD: makes 4 to 6 servings

Notes: These sweet, juicy shrimp taste of fragrant mint and lime. Don't marinate for more than the recommended time or the rum and lime juice will "cook" the shrimp and ruin their texture.

A GREAT!!! way to use all those RIPE STRAWBERRIES

CREAM CAKE with FRESH STRAWBERRIES

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 - 1/2 cups sugar, plus an additional to taste for strawberries

2 - 1/2 cups whipping cream

2 eggs

1 quart strawberries, sliced

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 9 - by 13 - inch pan. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, 1 - 1'/2 cups cream and eggs until smooth, creamy and quite thick.

Pour batter into pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, toss strawberries with sugar to taste and let stand for at least 20 minutes. Whip remaining cup cream to soft pecks. Serve cake topped with strawberries and their juice and whipped topping

YIELD: Makes 12 serving

STRAWBERRY PANCAKE ROLL-UPS

1 - 1/2 quarts fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled

6 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 - 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 - 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 cup milk

oil

Thinly slice 2 cups strawberries. In a blender or food processor, whirl remaining strawberries until smooth. Press through a fine strainer into a bowl, extracting as much liquid as possible with the back of a spoon or a spatula; discard residue. Whisk 1/4 cup sugar and the lemon juice into a strawberry puree.

In the blender or food process (no need to rinse), whirl cream cheese and 1/2 cup of the of the strawberry puree until blended and smooth.

In a bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. In another bowl, whisk eggs, buttermilk and milk just to blend. Whisk milk mixture into flour mixture just until evenly moistened

Place a nonstick griddle or a 12 - inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat (350); when hot, coat lightly with oil and adjust heat to maintain temperate. Spoon batter in 1/2 cup portions onto griddle and cook until pancakes are browned on the bottom and edges begin to look dry, about 2 minutes; turn with a wide spatula and brown other side, 1 - 1/2 to 2 minutes longer. As pancakes are cooked, transfer to baking sheet and keep warm in a 200 oven. Coat pan with more oil as necessary to cook remaining pancakes.

Spread each pancake with about 2 tablespoons cream cheese mixture and roll up. Set two roll-ups on each plate, top evenly with sliced strawberries and drizzle with a little strawberry puree; serve with remaining puree to taste.

YIELDS: Makes about 8 roll-ups; 4 servings

Notes: Thin and tender, the pancakes are rolled around a strawberry pink filling. You can make the strawberry sauce and cream cheese mixture (steps 1 and 2) up to 2 days ahead; cover separately and chill

Tuesday Tastes at Crazy Daisy visit and vote for my recipe!!!