A girl and her chicken..

Chicken wings with chiles and lime

Sometimes a girl just wants some good old fashioned chicken wings. And I’m not in any suggesting that these cannot be found in Heidelberg. There are 3 main Irish pubs here (that I have found) and each of them serves up their version of the perfect chicken wing. Well truth be told, I’m not sure that any of them are really aiming for perfect. But that's neither here nor there.

If you’re out with someone you are comfortable with, there is nothing better than digging in to a steaming hot pile of chicken wings, sauce on your face and your hands and, of course, chicken stuck in your teeth for the rest of the evening until you can get home to your much needed dental floss. Clearly, it’s not the optimal choice of a meal for a first date.

And sometimes, a girl not only just wants chicken wings, sometimes a girl wants her chicken wings in the comfort of her own home. Ok, I'm not just talking about any random girl here. Yes, it’s all about me. A face full of sauce, chicken bits stuck in my hair, it makes no matter, because I am at home. Well, it would matter if my boyfriend were here, but he’s away on business again, so I can be as messy as I want, and no one is the wiser. Well, until now.

I happened to spot some appealingly meaty wings recently at the market, and I just couldn’t say no. After some lazy searches on the internet for a not-too-complicated recipe, I found one. It was so simple, I knew my search was over. And, it called for the use of a grill pan, and I will happily use my grill pan any chance I can get. Although, I will admit that it did sound like an unusual way to cook wings. But who was I to argue, I’d never made them before.

Let me say, that I was actually very satisfied with my first homemade chicken wing experiment. The flavour of the marinade on the wings was very flavourful and light. I’m still a little undecided on whether the grill pan is the best tool to cook them, as a lot of chicken parts remained untouched by the grill pan because of their odd and uneven shapes. I would have preferred to have an all over browning on the wings, which I could not achieve using my grill pan alone. Pasty white chicken bits are not particularly enticing. Nonetheless, they were still quite tasty dipped in some Thai sweet chili sauce, which has been a topic of much conversation lately between another charming Canadian food blogger and I.

Variations: I used a red chili instead of jalapenos. I have yet to find a jalapeno in Heidelberg so sometimes a girl just has to make do. Recipe is posted below!

Chicken Wings with Chiles and Lime (from cooking.com)

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
4 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3 jalapeno chiles, seeded and finely chopped
2 pounds chicken wings

METHOD

Combine the lime juice, garlic, ginger, and chiles in a glass or non reactive metal bowl. Add the chicken and turn to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours, turning occasionally. Remove from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Preheat a grill pan over medium heat until very hot. Add the chicken and grill for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until cooked through and firm. Serve immediately.