Rosemary Lemon Chicken Wings

[fitfool]

One night, I scanned the signs as I drove north on Route 1, heading out of Boston. I wanted to grab some take-out but nothing appealed to me. Then I saw the word 'wings' and decided to try that. Once I got inside, the menu was primarily pizza but I did see one item mentioning their "signature fall-off-the-bone wings" and ordered that to go. Wow! I didn't taste it until I had reached home almost an hour later but we were so blown away by it that I kept remembering those wings for weeks afterwards. Luckily, the menu did mention what they marinated their wings with so I could search online for similar sounding recipes. This is my attempt to recreate those wings.

If you can drive out to Angela's Coal-Fired Pizza in Saugus, then you can try the original wings. So good. And their Figaro pizza with figs, prosciutto, mozzarella, arugula, bleu cheese, and shaved parmesan was fabulous.

Brian really liked these wings a whole lot too. Still thinks it's not quite what we had from Angela's but it's close enough for me. I'm going to stop fussing with this recipe. So long as I was heating up the oven, I baked off the last of the dough for Soft Oatmeal Cookies, and then also did the Saucy Mushrooms and Roasted Zucchini with Garlic. So it was a 3-course dinner: first mushrooms, then zucchini, then wings. I guess 4 courses if you count an oatmeal cookie as dessert.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken Wings

Prep Time: 40 Minutes (plus optional marinating time)
Active Time: 20 Minutes

Ingredients:

2 Pounds Chicken Wings
juice and zest of one lemon (~ 2 Tbsp lemon juice)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp dried rosemary (or 1/4 cup of chopped fresh rosemary)
4 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

1. Set the oven to 400F
   
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients except chicken together. Then add all the chiken and mix it all together.
   
   
3. If you have the time, cover bowl and let marinate for a few hours in the fridge. You can skip this step if you're in a hurry but the longer it marinates, the stronger the flavors get.
   
   
4. Put wings on a rack in a roasting pan and pour remaining marinade on top. (Second time I skipped the rack and just poured the remaining marinade on top. Still good and one less thing to clean.)
   
   
5. Put in the oven for 20-25 minutes on one of the higher racks.
   
   
6. Serve right away or save them in the fridge and eat them later cold.
   

Adapted this recipe: http://oilandbutter.com/2010/09/lemon-rosemary-chicken-wings/

Comments

[kaitou-lili.livejournal.com]

I kind of wanted to lick my screen when I saw that chicken...it looks so good!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

It tastes really good too. Try making it sometime -- not very hard to make.

[slackjawed.livejournal.com]

I made this last night, only I did it with chicken breasts since that is what I had at home. It was pretty damn good. My wife even liked it and since I eat chicken at least once a day, she's pretty sick of it.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Awesome! So why do you eat so much chicken? I like the fact that chicken can be cooked in so many ways though. You don't have to end up being sick of it.

[slackjawed.livejournal.com]

I'm always on a high protein/low fat diet, but really, I just fucking love chicken. I ate it all the time before I started worrying about turning into a gigantic fat body.

[natf.livejournal.com]

We're going to have to try this!
(added to memories)

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I hope you like it when you try it!

[(Anonymous)]

Can you make these in a crock pot?

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I haven't cooked in a crockpot before but I imagine there must be crockpot recipes for chicken wings out there. Maybe adapt one of those to use these seasonings?

acfp

[(Anonymous)]

u do not got the whole recipe correct i been working there for about 3 yrs and its a secret recipe and thank u for the compliment our wings and pizza is the best the best in NE

Re: acfp

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Cheers! If you ever feel like sharing the recipe with just me (I'll promise not to post it online!) then I'd be thrilled. But I understand about wanting to keep your secret recipe. Other friends have gone there and enjoyed the pizza and wings too. Definitely one of my favorites. I wish I lived closer than an hour away!

GREAT recipe!!!

[(Anonymous)]

Love your recipe!! Instead of cooking them for 20-25 minutes at 400 I cooked them for 2 hours at 250 and then broiled them for another 15 minutes or so. The meat just fell off of the bone!!!! The flavor was fantastic!

Re: GREAT recipe!!!

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know! I'm so happy to hear you loved it too.

Definitely plan to try your recipe!

[laura humphrey (from livejournal.com)]

My husband and I stayed at the hotel next to Angela's in Saugus for a week. We're from Texas. It was just lucky we ate there our first night in town since we were right next door. We ate there 3 (or was it 4?) times before we left because we knew it would probably be our only visit to the Boston area and the wings and pizza were just soooo good!

I especially remember being sorry we went to a highly rated expensive Italian food district in Boston one evening because what I had there I did not enjoy as much as I enjoyed the food at Angela's. Everyone told us to pick any restaurant and we couldn't go wrong, but we must have picked the one place that proved this adage untrue. I just remember telling my husband, "We could have eaten at Angela's!"

That was a couple of years ago now. We still wish there were an Angela's Coal-Fired Pizza in Austin so we could have that food again. I miss the pizza, but I don't think I could come close to duplicating that with a home oven. I'll try to make my own substitute wings at home. I appreciate having your recipe because, after all this time, we still think about those wonderful wings.