Chicken Wings With Brown-Butter Recipe
These chicken wings have a sauce with staying power
Michael Schwartz, the Miami-based chef of the award-winning Michael's Genuine Food & Drink, is exploring classical fine dining at his newly opened restaurant, The Cypress Room. In a genteel nod to the restaurant's location, The Cypress Room's menu also capitalizes on the bounty and history of South Florida–even featuring frogs' legs, napped with a garlic-infused brown butter-and-spinach sauce. Most home cooks are not jumping at the chance to cook frog, so we adapted Schwartz's recipe for that snack-time staple, chicken wings. The dish's spirit is the same, but chicken wings may never have had it so good.
Recipe adapted from Michael Schwartz, Cypress Room, Miami
Chicken Wings with Brown Butter-and-Spinach Sauce
Try this delicious and easy chicken wings recipe with brown butter and spinach sauce from award-winning chef Michael Schwartz's The Cypress Room in Miami.
Ingredients
- Ice
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1 cup packed baby spinach leaves or roughly chopped large spinach leaves
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
- 8 chicken wings
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ½ lemon
- 2 tablespoons brine-packed capers, rinsed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 cups watercress, tough ends removed
Directions
- To a large bowl, add the ice and cover with cold water. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt and the spinach and blanch until the spinach is tender and tears easily, about 2 minutes. Use a skimmer or slotted spoon to transfer the spinach to the ice-water bath to cool. Strain the spinach into a fine-mesh sieve, then squeeze as much liquid as possible from the spinach.
- To a small skillet set over medium heat, add the butter. Melt, swirling the pan occasionally, until the white solids turn golden and the butter smells nutty, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic turns golden-brown, about 30 seconds.
- Pour the garlic-browned butter into a blender. Add the spinach and blend on high speed until the mixture is completely smooth, about 1 minute. Add ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of pepper and blend to combine.
- To a large bowl, add the chicken wings and the flour and toss to coat. In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, add the oil. Add the chicken wings and cook the wings until the sides in contact with the pan are golden-brown, about 3 minutes. Turn the wings over and brown the other side, 2 to 3 minutes longer. Squeeze the juice from the lemon half over the wings. Season with the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt, the remaining ¼ teaspoon of pepper, the capers and the parsley. Stir to combine. Divide the watercress among 4 plates. Top each with 2 chicken wings, the spinach sauce and some of the lemon-caper pan sauce, and serve.