LEMONY ROASTED CHICKEN WINGS

INGREDIENTS: Yield: 6 to 8 servings Total time: About 1 ½ hours

0.9kg very small potatoes, such as fingerlings, whole, or use medium-size yellow-fleshed potatoes, cut in halves or wedges 3 pounds chicken wings, preferably drumettes

Salt and pepper

Red pepper flakes, to taste 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 6 small lemons, cut into half-moon slices 6 large rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped 8 garlic cloves, minced, or ½ cup chopped green garlic shoots 1 cup dry white or rosé wine

Pinch of dried oregano (optional)

PREPARATION:

1. Heat oven to 200 degrees C. Rinse potatoes with lukewarm water and pat dry.

2. Spread chicken wings out on a baking sheet or cutting board in a single layer. Season both sides of wings generously with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with red-pepper flakes as desired.

3. Transfer seasoned wings to a large bowl. Add olive oil, lemon slices, rosemary and garlic and toss well with (plastic-gloved) hands so everything is evenly coated.

4. Place potatoes on the bottom of a roasting pan. Arrange seasoned wings over potatoes in a single layer. Add wine and cover pan tightly with foil.

5. Bake, covered, for about 45 minutes, until potatoes are done. Remove foil and return the pan to the oven and bake about 20 minutes more, until wings are nicely browned. Using tongs, turn wings over and bake for another 20 minutes to brown the wings’ other side. Sprinkle with dried oregano, and serve hot or at room temperature.

AND TO DRINK …

If you are eating chicken wings Buffalo-style, grab a beer by all means. But for these Mediterraneanstyle chicken wings, flavoured with lemon, garlic and herbs, I’d prefer a bracing Mediterranean white wine. I might like a vermentinu, as vermentinos are called on the island of Corsica. They tend to be a little more linear and mineral than those from Liguria. Or perhaps a French white from Cassis, a town outside Marseilles. You could try Etna Biancos, made from the carricante grape, or Greek whites, made from assyrtiko or moschofilero. Eat these wings with gallons of dry rosé, if you are feeling all summery, or try a dry sparkling wine — good cava, if you want to stay Mediterranean. And you wouldn’t be wrong if you stuck with beer.