This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Chris. Chris’ passion for the almighty chicken wing is known by all of her friends. It has even led to a page on Facebook devoted to the subject that features all sorts of recipes, comments and shared passion on the subject. Living in New York City years ago, many of my friends we “starving” artist’s. We would gather together and make this delicious recipe, pairing it with cheap jug wine, a tossed salad and plenty of French bread. It’s finger food in its purest form! There are many variations that have come about over the years, but here is the original recipe. It’s simple and a great ice breaker at a casual dinner party. I hope you’ll try these and let me know how you liked them! I used rigatoni for the dish in the photograph, but shells are the normal accompaniment! To Life!
2 packages drumettes
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped, fresh garlic
1 cup chopped, fresh flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
sea salt and cracked black pepper
1/2 cup sesame seeds
juice of 2 fresh lemons and 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon zest
Mix the all of the ingredients together and let the chicken marinate for a couple of hours. I wouldn’t keep them in the mixture overnight as they will absorb TOO MUCH of the flavors. I usually whip the marinade up, pour it into a large ziplock bag and refrigerate, tossing the wings around every half hour or so.
Cook one pot of large pasta shells, drain and set aside while you cook the wings. Open and drain one can of large, pitted black olives.
Chop another half cup of flat leaf parsley for garnish and cut a couple of lemons in quarters for garnish as well.
Plenty of freshly grated Parmesano/Regianno cheese to top it all off.
Heat your broiler to HIGH. Dump the chicken with the marinade into your broiler pan. You WANT to keep the marinade and let it get hot and sizzly as the chicken cooks. I just remove the tray with the slits in it and let the mixture spread out in the pan itself. THEN put it about 3-4 inches from the hot broiler coils. There will be some pops, crackles and snaps. After about five minutes check the wings and turn them, spooning a bit more of the marinade over them. Let them broil again for five minutes or so. You want them to be well browned and slightly crusty….just use your own judgment on this.
Place the warm, cooked pasta shells on a large platter. When the chicken is cooked to your liking toss the black olives with it when you have removed it from the oven. Pour all of this over the shells, garnish with the lemons, parsley and sprinkle with the cheese. Serve with a crisp salad and crusty bread to sop up the sauce.
