Balsamic BBQ Sauce Drumsticks

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Some days I just can’t be bothered to cook a proper meal. But a girl’s gotta eat, and chips alone won’t cut it. What to do? 

For some reason barbeque sauce has been occupying a lot of brain space this weekend. Maybe because I was eyeballing bottles at a specialty food store the other day. Eyeballing aside, I didn’t buy any - which got me wondering... what do BBQ sauce fans do when the stores in their area don't sell them? Having relatives mail/haul these things over is an option familiar to many an expat, but I figure it's probably more useful to know how to make it myself. And, it turns out, not so hard. In fact, not hard at all. 

Balsamic BBQ Sauce Drumsticks

Ingredients (serves 4):

12 chicken drumsticks (or, if you're cooking for two, get 6 drumsticks and keep the proportions for the sauce the same, saving your leftover sauce in a bottle in the fridge).

BBQ Sauce: 
1 cup balsamic vinegar
5/6 cup ketchup
1/3 cup cane sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
1. Put the balsamic vinegar, ketchup, cane sugar, mustard, salt and pepper in a saucepan over medium-low heat and bring to a boil. Turn the temperature down and let it simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until reduced to one-third the original amount.

2. Put a grill pan on the stove and let it heat up.

3. Lightly coat the drumsticks with BBQ sauce and place them in the grillpan over medium-high heat. Turn frequently so you cook all the sides evenly and don't burn them, re-coating them with BBQ sauce every now and then. They'll need about 16-20 minutes.

4. A few minutes before the end, spoon over some extra sauce.

Serve hot, with a bowl of extra BBQ sauce on the side.

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