Salt & Pepper Wings with Spicy Rainbow Chard
I’m winging it with this no-fuss lunch.
3 Tbsp coconut oil
10 chicken wings
salt & pepper
2 bunches of rainbow chard, de-stemmed and torn into medium-sized pieces
1 Tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 lime, juiced
2 tsp nutritional yeast
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pat those chicken wings dry and season very generously all over with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Depending on how much spice you can handle, load those wings up!
Get your cast iron hot (medium flame), add in 2 Tbsp coconut oil, and place wings into the pan, skin-side down. Make sure you’re not crowding the wings in the pan or else they won’t brown as nicely (about 10 minutes). Flip over the wings and transfer the cast iron to the oven for 10 minutes.
While this is cooking, turn on another medium flame under a sauté pan. After a minute, add in the remaining coconut oil. Toss in the minced ginger and let that cook for a couple of minutes. Add in the rainbow chard and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let the greens cook, tossing with tongs until wilted (about 3-5 minutes). Finish off the chard by drizzling in the lime juice and sprinkling the nutritional yeast. Give it one good final toss. Taste it to make sure it’s salty and/or tangy enough for you.
After 10 minutes, take the wings out and let them cool for 5 minutes or so. Serve the wings with a side of the rainbow chard and an extra squeeze of lime if you have it.
There’s this French take-out spot in Manhattan called Poulette Rotisserie Chicken that has THE BEST salt and pepper wings. My grandma went through a phase where she must’ve ordered chicken from this spot a few times a week and one of those times I joined in on the action. Before this, I’d always thought of chicken wings as a sports bar appetizer, smothered in BBQ sauce. The wings from Poulette were coated with peppery, salty goodness and the skin was so crunchy you could slide your fork across it and hear that magical crackle sound.
Since I’m limited on the fun ingredients these days, chicken skin is something I get excited about. I recreated these salt and pepper wings at home, with a side of ginger and lime rainbow chard. Now that I’m making these wings at home, I can get my chicken from The Meat Hook (their birds are pasture-raised) which means I can eat all of the chicken skin and feel good about it!
