One day family friends came by my house to cool off from the excessive heat in the pool. Naturally, cravings struck. As the visit was a last-minute one, I didn’t have time to cook beforehand, neither did I have much to offer, but improvising on the spot is second nature. These wings were not bad considering I only had time to let them ‘soak’ for half an hour, but the injection of rum was a welcome flavour boost, which I took up a notch adding juicy Bombay mangoes which were slightly under-ripe at the time which I aided with sweet ortanique and honey.
Ingredients
- 1 medium ortanique, cut and juiced
- 3 tbsps Worcestershire sauce
- 100ml dark Jamaican rum
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 12 pimento seeds (allspice) crushed
- 1 large scotch bonnet pepper, seeds removed and finely chopped
- 2 fat sprigs of thyme, leaves stripped (divided)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 12 chicken wings, separated into drumettes and wingettes (flats), tips trimmed
- 3 tbsps Jamaican honey
- 2 Bombay mangoes, skin removed and cut into pieces
Method
- In a large bowl add ortanique juice, Worcestershire sauce, rum, garlic, pimento, scotch bonnet and half of the thyme and whisk. Remove about a ¼ cup and mix with the honey, set aside.
- Add chicken wings, toss to coat and cover. Marinate overnight if you wish or for a couple of hours.
- Preheat oven to 375°F and prepare a baking tray lightly greased.
- Lay chicken wings on baking tray, generously season with salt, pepper and roast for 25 minutes.
- Remove wings from the oven and brush all over with the reserved marinade honey mixture and add the mango.
- Cook for 15 minutes more or until chicken wings are cooked through and mango is nicely caramelised.
- Garnish with extra thyme and serve. Perfect with rum cocktails.
Jacqui ‘JuicyChef’ Sinclair, founder of Nyam & Trod, is a British Jamaican award-winning chef, writer, and food culturist. She is a co-founder of Kingston Kitchen, an annual food event supporting food artisans. Jacqui has been an advocate of the Meatless Monday Global movement in Jamaica since 2011. Jacqui’s work has been featured in such publications as the Huffington Post, the Jamaica Observer, Saveur, The Jewish Post and numerous blogs. She has appeared on the Travel Channel’s ‘Bizarre Foods’ with Andrew Zimmern and Food & Wine’s Jamaica episode with Kwame Onwuachi.