Chef Joel & Jenn: Sticky Japanese Chicken Wings with Zucchini Chips

Back on Valentines Day 2015 Jenn purchased a subscription to the food delivery service Plated. Basic concept is that they will send you 2 meals a week to cook. They accidentally sent us the wrong order for our first round in April and then with everything going on we didn't get to order anything until now. Crazy right? For the "trouble" we actually got two weeks free. So this is the first of four meals that we will end up cooking on plated. Before we get into the recipe here's a video I put together for unboxing our Plated box. 

The first of two recipes for this round was the Japanese Chicken Wings with Zucchini Chips that we ended up cooking this past Sunday. I'm glad we did because there was at least an hour of prep time. That's one of the big negatives with Plated. You get all the ingredients (which is nice) but you have to do all the prepping/chopping. There was a ton of of prep with this meal. 

First up was prepping the Zucchini. Cutting them up and making a batter to dip them in before putting them into the oven to bake. What's weird is that the setup of this recipe has these zucchini chips sitting out (after being cooked) for ten minutes or so while the wings got cooked. So that meant they were lukewarm by the time the wings were done. After we made the sauce we put the wings in the oven and cooked them.

The meal itself had a great deal of flavor and was a nice combination. But as I feared in the video the amount of food was pretty small especially for the amount of prep that we had to do. We felt exhausted after prepping for such a small meal. The good news is for the small portions the food wasn't bad its just not something we would ever cook again. Far to much prep for too little of a gain. So far we are 2/2 on meals from Plated that required a ton of work and didn't turn out all that tasty. At least it looked pretty. 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 scallions
• 12 ounces zucchini
• ½ inch ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 1½ pounds chicken wings
• ¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon shichimi togarashi,
• divided 4 packets mayonnaise
• 1¼ teaspoons gochujang, divided (optional)
• 4 packets soy sauce, divided
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce, divided
• ½ cup mirin
• 1 parchment paper

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Rinse scallions, trim and discard roots, and thinly slice. Rinse zucchini, quarter lengthwise, then halve pieces crosswise. Trim and discard skin of ginger and mince. Mince garlic. Place garlic and ginger on a cutting board and sprinkle over ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Using a large knife, scrape over mixture at a 45° angle, pressing down. Repeat until a paste forms. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towel.
• In a large shallow bowl, beat together 1 egg, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and pepper. In a separate large shallow bowl, combine breadcrumbs and ½ of shichimi togarashi. Working one piece at a time, dip zucchini in egg, turn to coat, and allow excess to drip off. Add to breadcrumbs and press to adhere, shaking off excess. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet, arranging in a single layer.
• Drizzle ½ tablespoon olive oil over zucchini chips. Transfer to oven and bake until tender, about 15 minutes. When tender, remove and season generously with salt. Transfer zucchini chips to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise and ¼ teaspoon gochujang, if desired. Turn broiler to high.
• While zucchini bakes, combine 2 packets soy sauce, ½ of fish sauce, ½ teaspoon mirin, and ½ of garlic-ginger paste in a large shallow bowl or resealable plastic bag. Add chicken, turn to coat, and set aside to marinate for at least 10 minutes at room temperature. Once chips have baked, line baking sheet from zucchini with foil, discarding parchment. Set aside.
• While chicken marinates, whisk together remaining garlic-ginger paste, remaining shichimi togarashi, remaining gochujang, if desired, remaining soy sauce, remaining fish sauce, and remaining mirin in a small pot. Simmer over medium heat until mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon, 12-15 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
• Remove chicken from marinade and season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on prepared baking sheet and broil until golden, 6 minutes per side. Remove, pour over glaze, and toss to coat. Divide evenly between 2 plates and garnish with scallions. Serve with zucchini chips and aioli alongside.

Recipe Source: Plated