Spicy Chicken Wings and Special Fries | You've Got Meal!

The title doesn’t really do justice to this dish as it is a very nice fusion of American, Chinese and Italian cuisine (the Italian part being the beautiful Nero D’Avola that accompanied the meat and potatoes J). This thing is a singe to make and it guaranteed to impress, especially with the spicy food loving crowd.

We used 10 wings that we cut in half, you can adjust the amount of wings according to your own desire. The idea behind cooking the meat here is that we wanted to cook it in a healthier way that just frying it, and we managed to do just that without sacrificing taste. Making these wings is a 2 step process. Start of by flouring the wings (that you’ve thoroughly washed) and placing them on an oven tray that you pop in the oven, at high heat for around 30 minutes. Meanwhile you have time for the second part, another dead easy step. Heat up 75 grams of butter on bain-marie, and this will serve as the base for a sauce that will coat the oven cooked wings. To the butter add 2 (or more, you hot devil J)hot pepper sauce -  I used tabasco, 1 tbs Worchester sauce and 1 tsp of red wine vinegar (I find this step optional, as the hot sauce usually has a fair amount of vinegar in it). Next, choose you condiments. My suggestion is to use ground ones, that mix well in the butter, and don’t overdo it as you can get a dusty feel to the meat. I used  smoked paprika, ground ginger, cardamom, dried garlic powder, curcuma, salt and pepper. Mix the spices with the spicy butter. After the wings are done, remove them from the tray and place them in a large bowl. Pour the sauce on the wings and mix really well, making sure the meat is fully covered with the spicy goodness, and you’re done with the meat. I find this recipe to hold its ground over traditional deep fried wings and you can choose it when you want to avoid an oily situation.

This being a super easy wings recipe, the side dish couldn’t be far away from it. For the Chinese style fries you’ll need to slice your spuds thinly and evenly – think of a No.2 pencil and quarter it- that’t the size you want. Clean the potatoes really well, making sure you get rid of that starch, and let them rest in salted water for 10 minutes. The other things you’ll need are 2 tbs of dark sugar, hot sauce- about 2-3 tbs., and (optional, I’ve explained above why), 1 tbs of rice vinegar, 1 tbs. of soy sauce and some cucumbers, cut the same way as the potatoes. Heat up your wok, add a couple tbs. of peanut oil (or vegetable oil) and add the sugar, hot sauce and vinegar. Immediately pop in the potatoes and mix them well to make sure they are coated with the flavor base. Cook them until almost done. Next add the soy sauce and cucumbers and cook those for another minute or so (you can sprinkle some chopped coriander on top for a more Chinese touch).

I can assure you that this wing and fries mix has nothing to do with its fast food cousins. It may be fast, but make no mistake, it packs a big punch and it is poised to surprise you.  

Enjoy,