I make these sticky and delicious chicken wings regularly. They’re a bit of a fave, easy to prepare, cheap, and they can be eaten with your hands, which let’s face it, is always satisfying. Like little kids eating spaghetti with their fingers – it’s just more fun to use your mitts right?
Also, I make them to wind-up Massi. On more than one occasion when we’ve been planning a meal with friends, it’s come up that, according to him, you wouldn’t serve chicken to guests. In his eyes – chicken is waaayyyy too homey and ordinary.
I should clarify, I’m just talking about casual get-togethers, and bbq type meals, bistecca alla Fiorentina (Florentine Steak), was never going to be on offer. But chicken, even in a casual setting, in his book, is a no-no. Sausages, I was surprised to learn, are apparently ok. And not just swanky, artisan sausages, but regular snags do make the cut.
Ok, so maybe, our hierarchy of meat poshness is not mutual, I started to think. It’s funny isn’t it, what food we hold as being guest-worthy and what not. There’s kinda unsaid rules within your culture, that until a line has been crossed, you might not even know were there. Massi’s objections make me laugh. Also, they make me more determined to dish them out to guests.
I usually make a BIG tray of these wings (even if we don’t have guests) – but the recipe could easily be halved. The prep is simple. The chicken is cooked in two stages. In the first stage, the wings are salted generously then baked. In the second stage, a sweet, aromatic dressing is added, and the wings are returned to the oven. The dressing is super simple – heavy on just a few ingredients – lemon juice, garlic, honey, and rosemary. I particularly like a golden (almost burnt) finish on my chicken, so I typically finish off the cooking by giving the tray a blast under a hot grill for a few minutes before serving. Serve with potatoes, greens, and grains (cous cous is especially good), or bread to soak up the sweet citrusy juice.
Lemon, Garlic and Honey Chicken Wings ~ Ali di Pollo con Limone, Aglio e Miele
- 1kg chicken wings (tips removed), jointed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 200 ml lemon juice
- 7-8 garlic cloves, crushed
- 135g honey (roughly 2/3 cup)
- Rosemary, chopped
Preheat the oven to 200º C.
Place the chicken wings in a baking dish, and sprinkle over the salt. Roast for 30minutes.
Meanwhile, place the lemon juice, garlic and honey in a small bowl and stir until the honey has dissolved (if the honey is particularly thick, place it in the the microwave for 30secs to help it dissolve).
Remove the chicken from the oven and pour over the lemon, garlic and honey mixture. Scatter over the chopped rosemary. Using thongs, turn the chicken wings over.
Return the tray to the oven and cook for a further 20 minutes, turning the chicken pieces over again once more during cooking. For a really golden finish, move the chicken to the top shelf of the oven, set to grill and blast for a few more minutes to finish off.
