Taste Buds: Roasted Chicken Wings with Lemon and Garlic

I really want to do my “bwahaha”! Seriously, you have no idea how this is such an accomplishment for me! I set my mind in cooking something a couple of weeks ago when I purchased the magazine I mentioned in my kitchen challenge post. Then, one morning, as I was preparing my breakfast on my day off, and Chef was off to work, I searched for a chicken recipe in the magazine for dinner as I knew Chef was thinking of thawing the chicken wings.

Woohoo! I found a recipe for roasted chicken legs with lemon and green olives, so I thought, hey, I know I can replace some of the ingredients with stuff I know I have in our kitchen. So, the recipe became roasted chicken wings with lemon and garlic. And I knew as I read the recipe one million times before I began that this wouldn’t take me long to prepare, especially that Chef was going to be home in 30 minutes.

Easily, I combined olive oil, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, and basil (not in the original recipe, but a personal favorite spice). I got down and dirty and I actually touched the food! I usually prefer using utensils but the recipe called for rubbing the mixture onto the meat. After that, I just lined them up on my pre-heated pan, and oh, the aroma and the sound of the chicken roasting was to die for. Half-way through, I actually squeezed my lemons on the chicken. The recipe actually only used the lemon on the side, but I, well, just to say that I did something on my own, I used the lemon juice on the chicken, and I also added some garlic on my roast.

And voila!

I tell you, Chef was beyond surprised. He was so proud of me because I really cooked the chicken to perfection. I have watched enough Chopped to come up with the idea of having the chicken sit on a bed of potatoes, also roasted in the same pan. See, this is where I used my random knowledge of scientific facts. The recipe did not say to add potatoes in the pan, but I did because potatoes absorb the fat. Chef prefers not to have the skin. But, the skin became less greasy with the potatoes in there. And, they were crispy too.

Chef was so surprised that he upped his game the next day. He made some elaborate Italian egg soup breakfast. I guess we can have a little kitchen competition of our own.

Roasted Lemon Chicken