HARISSA HONEY CHICKEN WINGS

a reason to have people over

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I often find chicken wings disappointing, the sauce to chicken ratio usually too stingy, and the meat usually dry. A good chicken wing should be saucy. The meat should be tender and juicy and almost fall off the bone. I can’t remember when I made the determined decision to come up with a really good chicken wing recipe but I will tell you that it took me seven rounds of recipe testing to get them right.

I experimented with the marinade, cooking time and method. At one point I added an additional sauce post cooking. In fact one friend who very kindly tested a few of the recipe rounds for me is still in favour of the additional sauce, but I think these are perfect. They are INCREDIBLY simple to make. You start by cooking the wings in the oven in just a simple toss of oil, salt and pepper. As they cook you mix a marinade. I played around with adding lots of various spices and adding not many at all. I know from chatting to many of you that it is the simplicity of my recipes that you enjoy so I did my best to keep these simple. And they are! The core of the marinade is harissa paste which is readily available these days at most supermarkets. In a pinch, own brand is fine but the best is this one from Belazu. In terms of spices there is smoked paprika for smokiness, cayenne pepper for heat (optional as the harissa already has a good kick), and cinnamon for a bit of warmth. The cinnamon is non-negotiable and really pulls the flavours together. The stickiness comes from honey and there’s no need to use the really good stuff for this. Squeezy bottle is fine.

I love to serve these with a big bowl of herby rice and a sort of condiment salad hybrid thing I call smashed lime leaf peas (I am writing up the recipe for these TODAY so it will be with you next week). The peas bring a cooling element which works well with the heat of the wings.