7/19/15

Chicken Wings and Hot Sauce / Burying the Lead

Hi Friends and happy mid-summer!

We actually made these chicken thighs, which Nigel Slater refers to as wings (seemingly for the fun of it?) over two weeks ago, but I haven’t had the chance to write about them until now. This isn’t the chicken’s fault. The chicken was delicious.

It’s the fault of summer. Matt’s parents came to visit and we spent the Fourth of July weekend in Santa Ynez, which was really amazing. There was a pool and a giant front yard where Matt and his dad played soccer with such intensity that we’re pretty sure he went home to Pittsburgh with a broken toe. We picked raspberries in the hot sun and watched movies at night. But my favorite part by far was not being in charge of meals and cooking and/or cleaning up after them.
The other reason things have slowed down over here is because I’m almost four months pregnant. This sentence should be followed by an exclamation point I know, and it definitely did ten weeks ago when we first found out we were pregnant. But then I got nauseous and stayed nauseous for about seven weeks. And then I got happy once I could eat things that weren’t a baked potato or a French fry or potato latke with sour cream. But then I stopped sleeping well. And well, that’s where I’m at currently. Excited but tired and overwhelmed; Matt and I have a lot to do in the next six months. (And hopefully some of that time will be spent sleeping. Maybe?)

They say that just like every baby is different, so is every pregnancy. And following this pattern: so is every pregnancy announcement on one’s blog. Specifically, I’m thinking about the big way we unveiled the news about Teddy and it’s making me laugh. We were so young and quick with the video camera back then!

And now we’re announcing this major news with chicken thighs.
Speaking of: Nigel Slater has you baking the thighs in the oven. However, he does mention that you could grill them. Since we wanted to get a really nice char on them, we went for the grilled option. And then we served them with some short-grain brown rice and a salad with a soy sauce/rice vinegar/grapeseed oil dressing. 

Like so many things, it was messy but well worth it. 
Chicken Wings and Hot Sauce from Nigel Slater's Notes from the Larder
serves 4

For the marinade:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 clove of garlic
1 stalk of lemongrass
1 teaspoon sugar

8 to 12 chicken thighs, depending on their size

For the dipping sauce:
3 tablespoons fish sauce
6 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
a thumb-size lump (Oh, Nigel!) of fresh ginger
2 large hot chiles
the juice of 2 limes
1 teaspoon light soy sauce

Make the marinade: put the oil, soy sauce, lime juice, and fish sauce in a small to medium-sized bowl. Peel and crush the garlic, thinly slice the lemongrass (removing any tough outer layers as you go), and add both to the bowl along with the sugar. Mix thoroughly. And then pour into a shallow bowl. Add the chicken pieces and set aside for at least an hour. Overnight is great.

For the dipping sauce, put the fish sauce, water, rice vinegar, and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Peel the ginger and chop it finely with a heavy knife, then crush it to a pulp with the flat of the blade. Add the ginger to the pan and let the mixture boil till it has started to thicken slightly. Leave to cool. Remove the stems from the chiles, halve the flesh, and chop it finely. Don't discard the seeds; you need their heat for this. Stir them into the sauce with the lime juice and soy sauce.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the marinated chicken pieces in a roasting pan or baking dish and roast for twenty-five to thirty minutes, till their skin has become lightly golden and their flesh is cooked through. (The only directions Nigel gives about grilling these is to make sure the heat is low enough for the meat to cook right through to the bone. SO, that's what we/Matt did.)

Serve with the chile dipping sauce, spooning it over the sizzling chicken.

29 comments:

  1. Love these chicken thighs and babies. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yahoo! Baby number two! Congratulations and here's to hoping the new babe lets you catch some z's!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow wow wow - congratulations to you both!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. love all these flavors (might be my childhood coming out, but i'm in love with fish sauce). congrats on the baby!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. !!!!!!!! Such exciting news coupled with some delectable sounding thighs! What more could one wish for? Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations Matt and Amelia and Teddy! Another cross stitched stocking, hurray!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow! That was a surprising few words mixed into a paragraph about chicken thighs! Congratulations ! Also, these look delicious! I've been missing the blog posts, but it sounds like you've been busy making babies and enjoying summer - a beautiful thing indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Congratulations! Exciting news :) I definitely wasn't expecting that with a side of chicken thighs :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Congrats! So excited for you all :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. can't wait for chubby baby thighs! xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  11. How wonderful--congratulations big time!
    (Got that tandem stroller?...)

    And--I am beoming a first time grandma in November!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congratulations, Amelia! We're due around the same time (baby #1 for me). Now that I can stomach chicken again, I'm going to make this recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  13. YAAAAAAAY AMELIA AND MATT!!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS!!!!

    I think chicken thighs are the perfect way to celebrate a baby given that babies are basically all thighs from 3 -12 (?) months!!

    Muah.

    ReplyDelete
  14. How exciting! The thighs & baby!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mega exciting news! I keep thinking about how fast the next round comes (assuming two-ish years apart). My 15 month old doesn't even sleep through the night yet. Gah!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank you all very much!!

    @Lydia geeez, your baby is already 15 months! That seems insane! And it's true: it felt like I had lots of time to prepare for the first one (32 years, I guess?) And then with the second one, I had like 3 seconds. :) xoxx

    @Katherine / eggton I LOVE that Teddy has absolutely no muscle tone at 18 months. It's perfect. (Apparently they don't even get stomach muscles until 2?) (Something my mom once said.)

    @Hailey thank you! And sorry for the lack of posts. The good news is I've been getting *some* (fiction) writing done during the day so maybe one day there will be a second book too?

    @janice CONGRATULATIONS!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Congrats!! I had no idea ;) Truly enjoyed revisiting the first video, so very sweet. I love a Dr. Becky appearance! There's so much of her mom in her, too, which is all catalogued on your lovely blog. XxOo

    ReplyDelete
  18. Congratulations!! How exciting!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Babies are so great! Congratulations!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. just re-watched that announcement video. so sweet

    ReplyDelete
  21. Congratulations to Matt on the awesome soccer workout! Also good job on the chicken. (and the new baby, that's cool).

    ReplyDelete

I love hearing from you guys! (Comment moderation turned on for posts older than 4 weeks.)