Thursday, April 29, 2010

Mediterranean Chicken Wings, Green Beans and Mashed White Beans with Herbs



A super simple meal to make that is healthy and colorful.  I love Mediterranean food particularly because it's so fresh and full of flavor.  This meal was perfect for the warmer weather...

For the chicken wings:
2.5 lbs chicken wings
8 cloves garlic grated
2 lemons (juice and zest)
1 tbsp fresh rosemary
1 tbsp herbs de Provence
1/3 cup paprika
4 tbsp. olive oil
salt to taste

First rinse the chicken well and drop into a gallon size zip-lock bag.   To this, add the rosemary, grated garlic, 1 tbsp. of paprika, 3 tbsp. olive oil, sea salt, and the juice and zest of one lemon.    Let the chicken marinate for at least 4 hours, but it'd be better if you left if over night.

Once you're ready to cook the wings, place them on a cookie sheet.  Squeeze lemon juice over them, reserving about half a lemon for the very end.  Sprinkle each wing with a paprika, herbs de Provence and salt.  You'll want to be generous with the paprika especially since some with rub off while cooking. Place them on the grill and cook on low heat. Only turning once.  Cook for about 12 minutes on each side.  At the end of grilling, squeeze the rest of the lemon juice.  When you transfer them to a plate, you can throw a few fresh chopped rosemary leave, but go easy because a little goes a long way.   Parsley works well too.  I did skewers of red and white onion that i just seasoned with a little salt and olive oil.  I placed the skewers on the top rack of the BBQ so they wouldn't burn.

For the Green beans with Caramelized onions:
1 pkg. French style green beans- fresh (I bought mine at Sam's Club).
1 large red onion
2 garlic cloves (grated)
2 tbsp. crumbled feta
1/4 cup crushed almonds
1 tsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Place the almonds in a zip-lock bag and using a rolling pin, gently smash the almonds.  Next dry roast them in a non-stick pan.  Do this over med-low heat and watch this closely so they don't burn. Once they're nicely toasted, set aside. Thinly slice the onions in rounds.  Add the olive oil to the pan and add the onions. Begin cooking them until they caramelize.  Season them with salt and pepper.  Once the onions are cooked down enough, transfer to a holding plate.  Add a little olive oil and turn the heat up on Med-high.  Add the green beans and season with salt.  Toss the green beans around to cook evenly.  I like my green beans with a little bite so I cooked them for about 6 minutes.  Add the onions to the pan and combine well.  Next sprinkle the feta and combine.  Lastly, transfer to a dish and top with the almonds.

For the mashed white beans:
2 cans white beans of your choice (I used large butter beans)
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup diced onion
3 garlic cloves, grated
1 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary
1 tbsp. fresh chopped parsley
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt to taste

Rinse and drain the beans and set aside.   Add a little olive oil to a pan and begin sauteing the onions and garlic.  Once they've cooked a bit and have become tender add the beans and herbs.  Using a fork or potato masher, begin mashing the beans.  Add the stock and lemon juice, lemon zest and continue to mash, adding more stock as needed.  This is a rustic dish and you should not worry too much about having a perfectly smooth consistency.  In fact, I like mine a little chunky.  If you add salt, taste it beforehand since the chicken stock will have salt in it too.  If you feel particularly indulgent, you can add the rest of your crumbled feta into the mix.

Hope you enjoy this meal- we sure did!

4 comments:

FoodTravelDiva said...

Looks delicious Roxy! We do a similar type of mashed beans/peas in Barbados but we use pigeon peas...it's really really good!

Cynica Jellybones said...

Wow that really looks amazing. And I'm on a strict diet (tummy issues)...this is one of the few things you've posted that I could probably eat. I'll be trying it!!

fred said...

wonderful blog! thank you for being

Rox said...

Thanks Fred! Glad you like the blog ;)


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