This recipe for spiced and roasted chicken wings is a huge family favorite. I invented it several years ago and it combines several wonderful ingredients: fennel seed, sumac and lemons – for an inexpensive dish to feed a crowd.
Serves 4
2 pounds of chicken wings, preferably with the pointy bits still on
Olive oil to lightly coat chicken wings
Whole fennel seed
Garlic salt …ideally Lawry’s brand with the green cap
Ground black pepper
Ground sumac (if you can’t find this they are still good, but are much better with it!)
2 lemons
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cover a large cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
- Put the chicken wings in a bowl and lightly coat them with olive oil
- Add fennel seeds, garlic salt and ground pepper to the bowl and toss to evenly coat the wings with the spices. I use 1 generous tablespoon of fennel seeds; if you like less of a licorice flavor you can use less …I don’t recommend using ground fennel; you want the little bit of crunch from the seeds.
- Place the chicken wings skin side up on the cookie sheet and sprinkle them liberally with the ground sumac
- Roast the chicken wings until the skin is golden brown and crispy; this will take 30 to 40 minutes depending on the size of the wings. When they are golden brown and crispy, turn them over and roast them skin side down for another 15 to 20 minutes. You want them crispy all over. If you like, you can drain them on a paper towel for a few minutes after you take them out of the oven.
- To serve, put them into a big serving bowl, and squeeze the juice of two lemons over the wings, catching any seeds in your fingers. **I saw someone at a produce market cut both ends off a lemon rather than cutting it in half; then he held it vertically with one of the cut sides down before he squeezed the juice. For some reason this catches all the seeds and it’s easier to get the juice out.
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