Tikka Chicken Wings
Chicken wings are one of my many favorite foods. They are versatile and I could happily eat them every day which is what happened while I was testing this recipe.
These babies are spicy in a well-rounded way meaning they won’t burn your face off if you’re not a fan of spicy food but they aren’t drab and dull either. The turmeric and other spices balance the cayenne very well and leave you feeling warm and satisfied.
Also, this recipe uses ingredients that are probably in your kitchen already so you don’t have to make any special trips to the grocery store. The only thing you may not have is garam masala but you can easily make it using any recipe you find online (I prefer this one from Bon Appetit)
Tikka Chicken Wings
Ingredients
1 cup yogurt
4 garlic cloves minced
4 teaspoons grated ginger
1½ Tablespoons coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1 Tablespoon turmeric
2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon brown sugar
2 lbs. chicken wings
Chopped cilantro, for garnish
Minced shallots, for garnish
Directions
Mix everything but the wings together in a large bowl until well combined. Add the wings and toss to evenly coat. Transfer everything to a zip-lock bag or cover the bowl and marinate for at least 30 minutes
Preheat the oven to 400 and line a large sheet pan with foil.
Remove wings and shake off the excess marinade and discard. Spread them evenly across the prepared sheet pan so they are not overlapping.
Bake the wings for 20 minutes, flip the wings and rotate the pan, bake 20minutes longer or until the wings are cooked through and lightly charred. Cool slightly before transferring the wings to a platter and garnishing with cilantro and shallots.
Note: If the wings are cooked through but don’t look charred, put them under the broiler to crisp them up. Optional, not necessary.
Braised Korean Chicken Thighs
It is getting cold up here in Maine. It’s been cold, but this weekend was bitterly cold and windy. Instead of going for the 8-mile walk, I’d planned yesterday, I only went out for about half of that distance and spent the rest of the weekend inside cleaning, cooking, and organizing.
On Saturday, I gave Erin McDowell’s Yeast Donut recipe a try. I have never made donuts until now and I have to admit, the process is MUCH easier than I would have thought. These are yeasted donuts so they need time to rise, a lesson I learned with the first batch. I made the dough Friday night and let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight but didn’t let them rise long enough in the morning so they came out a little dense at first. I took a break from frying and came back a couple of hours later and the dough was puffy and light. A few minutes in boiling hot oil and voila!
The week ahead will come and go like any other for us. We don’t have many plans these days thanks to COVID. It is both a blessing and a curse. The upside to being isolated like this? We’re saving money we would otherwise be spending at restaurants and bars. The downside? We haven’t seen our friends in over a month and I’m feeling restless. Fortunately, we have a house that needs fixing up.
I’m thinking I’ll make this Braised Korean Chicken this week. I went through a phase for a few years when all I wanted was Korean chicken. There’s something about the sweet, spicy, umami flavors that I just couldn’t break from. While I haven’t been cooking with Gochujang as much as I once did, I still have a nice fat jar of it in the fridge, begging to be whipped out.
I revived some sourdough starter over the weekend. Before I left for the island last spring, I divided my existing starter in half. One half came to the island with me while the other was dried and bagged for safekeeping, just in case the other half didn’t make it through the summer. And guess what? That starter that came to the island with me didn’t make it after all. As it turns out, running a restaurant, in the middle of a pandemic, while living with my entire family under one roof is not a good time to try making sourdough bread.
To revive this starter, I took some, ground it up in the food processor, and soaked it in warm water until it dissolved. I then fed it equal weights of water and flour for a few days until some bubbles appeared. We’re on day 3 as of Monday morning and it is looking bubbly and smelling pleasantly sour. Success, I think.
I’m working on some other recipes this week as well. Red Beans and Rice, Flank Steak Spring Rolls, Blueberry-Ricotta Pancakes, and maybe a special cookie of some kind.
Aside from food, I’ve been working on renovating our kitchen and have reached the point of no return. It is time to start doing some demolition work. I’d normally jump right in on a project like this but because it is our kitchen, I have to be strategic about how and when I do demolition work; who wants drywall dust in their yogurt? We’ll see how this goes.
Braised Korean Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
3 T Honey
3 T gochujang
1 cup chicken broth
¼ C soy sauce
1 T fish sauce
1 t sesame oil
1 T minced ginger
1 T minced garlic
6 chicken thighs
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
lime wedges, for garnish
sliced green onion, for garnish
toasted sesame seed, for garnish
Directions
Combine the honey, gochujang, chicken broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic in a mixing bowl and set aside.
Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper to taste and place, skin-side down in a cold, Dutch oven.
Cook the chicken thighs over medium-high heat until browned on all sides. Transfer the thighs to a plate and set aside.
Add more oil, if necessary, and sauté the onion until golden brown, about 5 minutes.
Return the chicken to the skillet and add the honey-gochujang mixture. Cover and simmer, turning occasionally until the cooked through, about 25 – 30 minutes
Remove the chicken and reduce the sauce by 1/3.
If you want to crisp up the skin, place the thighs on a cookie sheet and briefly broil on high.
Garnish the chicken with sesame, lime, and green onions.
Apple Cider Roasted Chicken
This is a simple, straightforward way to get tender and juicy chicken that tastes like fall. With simple ingredients, this recipe is an accessible crowd-pleaser.
This dish uses two spices that you may not have in your pantry, Five-Spice Powder and Ancho Chili Powder.
Five-Spice is a blend of cinnamon, fennel seeds, star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, and cloves commonly used in Chinese and some Vietnamese cuisine. I keep it on hand and use it for all kinds of recipes through fall and winter. The warm flavor is very similar to apple pie seasoning, just a little better.
Ancho Chili Powder also makes an appearance in this recipe. Unlike regular chili powder, ancho chili powder is simply one type of pepper, poblano, dried, and ground whereas chili powder is often a mix of several peppers along with things like garlic and salt. In a pinch, chili powder will work, but try to get your hands on some of the good stuff if you can.
Apple Cider Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
3 apples, sliced 1/2” thick
1/4 c apple cider
1 chicken, halved
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375.
Fill the bottom of a roasting pan with the sliced apples and add the cider.
Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt, pepper, five-spice, and ancho chili powder. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 25 more minutes or until the chicken is 165*.
Remove the chicken from the oven, cover with foil, and allow it to rest 10 minutes before serving.
Spiced Paprika Chicken
The weather in Maine is officially in fall mode. I went for a hike a few weeks ago and looked out from the top at the tapestry of color formed by all the changing leaves. Now that I am back from the island for the winter, I’ve settled back into my normal routine of writing, cooking, writing, cooking, and working on the house. Earlier this fall, my parents and I started scraping the exterior of the house and preparing it for a fresh coat of paint.
Painting the house has been a series of negotiations between Anthony and me. When we bought the house a few years ago, it was and remains light green with a red foundation, and white trim. It is not that I don’t like green exterior houses or that I am afraid of color. In fact, I actually like the color of the house. I wanted a change however and change is what we have settled on. After, literally years, we have agreed to paint the house flannel gray with dark charcoal (almost black) foundation. The detached garage will be a different color but we don’t know what quite yet. It should be quite sharp, hopefully. It could also look a little drab, you never know.
House projects aside, I am excited to be back in the kitchen coming up with new recipes and tweaking old. I have a lot of fresh ideas that I can’t wait to share. I will also be posting a series of recipes and articles dedicated to the upcoming holidays.
This week, we have Spiced Paprika Chicken. Anthony and I had dinner at a new restaurant in Cape Porpoise this summer and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. We shared this grilled chicken that was AMAZING. Cooked over a wood fire and covered in spices, it was juicy, tender, and full of flavor. This recipe isn’t exactly the same but the combination of smoked paprika, chili powder, and cinnamon really delivers a mouthful of flavor. A little lemon juice at the end brightens things up and pulls out even more flavor. The best part, this came together in less than an hour, uses simple ingredients, and is flavorful without being overly spicy.
Spiced Paprika Chicken
Ingredients
2 chicken halves
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 and pat the chicken dry with paper towels and poke the skin with a sharp knife or a fork.
Mix the spices and oil together in a small bowl to create a paste. Using either your hands or a basting brush, coat the chicken on all sides with the spice paste and set aside to rest.
Place a wire rack on a cookie sheet and place the chicken on top of the rack. Roast the chicken for 45 minutes or until a thermometer reads 165. Remove from the oven and allow to rest. Serve with lemon wedges.
Gochujang-Ginger Wings
1.3 billion pounds of wings will be consumed today, Superbowl Sunday. I don’t even know who is playing tonight during Jlo’s concert but I am for sure having these wings. They are sweet, sticky, a little spicy and addictive. The best part? I already have all the ingredients in my kitchen and you probably do too. A quick pulse in a food processor makes this recipe super easy so you can get on with your night. Like many of my recipes, this one works but it isn’t a commandment. If you don’t have orange-apricot marmalade, don't sweat it. Use whatever you have on hand and enjoy your own creation!
Gochujang-Ginger Wings
Ingredients
2lbs party wings (about 12)
2-inch piece of ginger, roughly chopped
1 Fresno chili pepper, chopped and seeded
1/3 cup gochujang
1/3 cup orange-apricot marmalade
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons fish sauce
toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
cilantro, for garnish
Directions
Combine everything but the wings, sesame seeds and cilantro in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Toss the wings with the sauce in a large bowl and allow to marinate about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 425 and line a cookie sheet with foil or a silicone mat.
Arrange the wings in an even layer and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the wings from the oven and baste with the remaining sauce. Bake the wings for 10 more minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
Plate the wings and garnish with toasted sesame seeds, cilantro and lime wedges.
Korean Chicken Tacos
Tacos are one of my favorite foods. Whether fish, chicken, beef, vegan, breakfast or dinner, I love them in all their shapes, sizes and variations. This taco recipe is a standby for Anthony and I when we don’t really want to cook but need to feed ourselves. They go well with beer or a crispy white wine and the heat can be dialed up or down depending on your taste.
Gochujang is a central ingredient in this chicken marinade and is a Korean staple. Gochujang is a fermented soy and pepper paste that is in just about everything Korean and a flavor Anthony craves from his time as a teacher overseas. Though once elusive, gochujang is pretty popular now and can be found in most Asian aisle of the grocery store.
The vinegar slaw makes these nice and bright and the sriracha aioli gives the dish a nice spicy creamy kick. The best part about the aioli? It makes enough to use later in the week on things like breakfast sandwiches.
Korean Chicken Tacos with Red Cabbage Slaw and Aioli
Ingredients
FOR THE CHICKEN
2 T Gochujang
1/2 C fish sauce
3 T lime juice
2 T brown sugar
1 T honey
2 T freshly grated Ginger
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
FOR THE SLAW
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
1 red fresno chili, thinly sliced
1 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 t salt
FOR THE AIOLI
1/2 C Mayo
1/3 C Sriracha
GARNISHES
Taco shells or tortillas
Cilantro
Sesame Seeds
Directions
Combine all the ingredients for the chicken in a bowl or ziplock bag and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
Make the slaw by combing all the ingredients in a bowl and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
In a small bowl, combine the mayo and sriracha and stir until evenly mixed. Set aside and chill.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat and cook the chicken about 4 minutes on each side or until done (no pink in the center). Set aside and tent with aluminum foil
Slice the chicken and serve with taco shells and garnishes.