Spicy Apricot Chicken Wings

In case no one's noticed already, I make up my recipes as I go along. I just stand in the kitchen, throw some ingredients around, snap pictures, and hope it turns out all right--and if it does turn out all right, hope I remember what on earth I did. Usually even if the dish isn't exactly what was planned, it usually works out in the end, and today was one of those days. I was actually planning on peanut butter wings, but I needed the creamy kind, and all we had in the house was all-natural, no-oil-added. Which is great for sandwiches, but doesn't have the right texture to stick to chicken wings. So I stuck the chicken in the oven before I searched the cabinets for something to make a sauce.

I started out with 1 1/2 pounds of manager's special chicken wings. This is the good stuff--no hormones, vegetarian diet, and whatever else makes a chicken "all natural." I'm not sure how much it usually costs, but I got it for $1.29/lb.

Cut the chicken wings into drumettes, whatever-that-piece-that's-not-the-drumette-is-calleds, and those little tips that aren't good for anything but being tossed in the trash. Try to find a sharp knife; we have a shortage of those in my kitchen. Thankfully my mother brought home a few with the pile of my great-grandmother's dishes. My great-grandfather was, my mother and grandmother tell me, obsessed with keeping his knives sharp. Most of the knives we found had been sharpened so many times that they were hardly thicker than a skewer.

If you're like me you'll spend this first step crying "ew ew raw meat is gross" and wondering why your mother's not home to do this for you. But you're a big girl and should get over it.

Bake the wings in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Then flip them over and stick them back in for another 30 minutes. (Hey, look, an action shot!)

Now dig through the cabinets. Simplicity is good; a jar of store brand apricot jam and a bottle of dollar store red pepper flakes should do the trick. While you're waiting for the wings to get done, melt 1/2 cup of the jam with 1 tsp. red pepper flakes. Sure, you could use less, but... you know.

Mmm, all brown and crispy and delicious.

Dump the chicken and sauce into a bowl and mix until everything's coated. If you used preserves like I did, there will be some chunks hanging around at the bottom of the bowl. That's okay; just spoon them over the top of the wings as a garnish. Garnish makes even cheap food look better.

See?

Recap:
- 1.5 lb. chicken wings, cut in half
- 1/2 c. apricot jam
- 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Bake wings at 350 for 1 hour, turning halfway through. Melt jam with red pepper flakes and mix with wings until coated throughly.

(Originally posted to Cheap Cooking on July 9, 2008.)