Have you noticed how all fun foods are interactive?
Fajita dinners, ‘make-your-own-pizzas’, ice cream factory, pretty much anything that requires the diner to interact with their food.
I am a firm believer in this theory. This extends to great American foods like burgers & fries – you have to get in there. No forks, knives or spoons getting in the way. It’s one on one food to human contact.
To me it makes the food taste better when you connect with it, and get down and dirty!
One of the most enjoyable and messy of these types of enlightening foods are things like ribs, and chicken wings (which NEED to be smothered in some to-die-for BBQ sauce)
Now, ribs are not something I’m likely to tackle any time soon – I’ll leave that for Mo to play around with when the weather picks up and he can make full use of the smoker he got for Chrismukkah.
Me, I’m happy to work with the humble chicken wing. I discovered that chicken wings can be bought at quite a reasonable price, so this not only makes a delicious meal – but it also makes a super cheap one too!
This dish came about one Sunday. My parents, myself and Mo were in the butcher looking for something to make for lunch, and there sitting in one of the chillers were masses of chicken wings! so we grabbed a few packs – overly excited by how cheap they were and went on our way to make some tasty wings!
The recipe was a bit of a mixture from here and there. I left Mo to sort out a rub, and prep the wings (I don’t like to touch raw meat very much) while I got to work on some epic BBQ sauce!
Mo quickly threw together his rub inspired by a recipe from Paleo Comfort Foods. As he was using whatever was available in our kitchen cupboard, his recipe went a little something like this:
Mo’s chicken wing rub
Makes: enough for a single wing recipe Takes: 5 mins
Ingredients:
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp mustard powder
- combine all ingredients
- done!
Epic Primal BBQ Sauce
Adapted using a recipe from Jan’s Sushi Bar.
Makes: about 1/2 litre Takes: 20mins – 1.5hrs
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups passata (tomato sauce)
1/2 cup tomato puree
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup liquid aminos/low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon paprika
10-12 drops tabasco sauce
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Melt the coconut oil in a heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat
- finely chop the onion and add it to the pan, cook off gently for about 7-8mins
- add the minced garlic to the pan and cook for a further 1 minute
- add remaining ingredients to the pan and bring to the boil
- turn heat right down, and leave to simmer for 10 mins or longer, until you have reduced the sauce to your desired consistency
[I tripled this recipe and bottled the left-overs]
Making Primal BBQ Chicken Wings
Makes: 36 pieces Takes: 30-40mins
Ingredients:
18 chicken wings, jointed
Mo’s chicken wing rub
1 recipe Epic BBQ Sauce
- preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
- once the wings have been jointed, and rubbed in Mo’s rub, place them (neatly) onto baking sheets and then into the oven
- bake for 10 mins, turn each piece and then bake for a further 10 mins
- remove one tray from the oven, and using a silicone brush, coat one side of each wing joint with Epic BBQ Sauce
- return the tray to the oven, and do the same with the other tray
- after the sauced wings have been baking for about 3-4mins, remove from oven, turn each one and coat the other side with the delicious sauce
- repeat with second tray
- return to oven for 3-4mins to complete cooking and caramelize the sauce a little
- place wings onto a warmed serving platter with some extra BBQ sauce on the side.
- Enjoy with celery sticks and blue cheese dip OR a side salad
Now, go ahead and make some for yourself, and JUST TRY come back and tell me that wasn’t fun to eat!
Ohhhh YEAH!
Finger lickin’ ding dong dang goodness!
Mmmmmm Mmmmmm!
These have just the perfect amount of kick (provided by the rub and sauce combined. If you like em HOT add more spice or Tabasco!
Go crazy!