It's been a manic week on the work front so I thought I might dig up a recipe from The Book. (There is a Frugal Cook book in case it's slipped your notice ;-) I also had a rather enticing pic of it I remembered I hadn't published.
The main pleasure of eating chicken wings is the lovely sticky, finger-licking, almost Marmitey goo you get if you cook then sufficiently long, a texture and flavour that sometimes gets masked if you cover them with a marinade. If you can have salt and pepper squid I thought, why not salt and pepper wings? It cuts down on the other ingredients you need to use and makes them more child-friendly. A good dish to make when you have the oven on for something else.
Serves 4
1 kg free-range chicken wings, preferably organic (I bought mine from Sheepdrove Farm in Bristol)
1-2 tbsp light cooking oil
Freshly ground salt and pepper
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Put the wings in a large roasting tin - or two smaller ones, pour over a little oil and turn the wings so they are lightly coated with oil. Season generously with freshly ground salt and coarsely ground black pepper and roast for 1 - 1 1/4 hours, turning the wings two or three times. Remove the wings from the roasting tin, rolling them in the pan juices to pick up any delicious sticky bits and leave until cool enough to handle (about 15-20 minutes). Eat warm or cold (but they’re never as good once they’ve been refrigerated) Save the fat from the pan which has a fabulous flavour.
Chicken wings seem to be one of the few 'cheap cuts' that still remains cheap. Have you noticed cheap cuts going up in price?
Had this exact dish last night. It's so good.
ReplyDeleteUnderrated. But you do need a tasty bird . . .
ReplyDeleteThey used to give away chicken wings, don't think they'll be doing that now. Interesting piece on Radio 4's You and Yours today about butchers prices. If sales of premium cuts goes down - they have to make up that revenue by increasing the cheaper cuts.
ReplyDeleteTalking about cheap cuts - got a load of pigs kidney the other day for 39p. 4 portions out of it - you can't beat that.
Wow! No I can't James. Amazing windfall! What did you do with them?
ReplyDeletePigs liver with left over coq au vin sauce and left over pearl barley risotto with some fresh peas thrown in. Pigs kidney has a stronger flavour than lambs - it's a shame more people don't eat it. Wouldn't be on special offer then though.....
ReplyDeletePearl barley is slightly cheaper than risotto rice. It might take longer to cook - about an hour - but it doesn't break down with cooking like the risotto rice so it can be frozen in batches. Then you just defrost them or microwave them and finish off the risotto.