Gerard's Bistro bekaa chicken wings recipe
Brisbane diners love Ben Williamson's bekaa wings at Gerard's Bistro so much he can never remove them from menu. It's all about the rich and delicious harissa-based sauce, which takes some time to prepare but the umami-heavy results are worth it for your next Middle Eastern feast. You'll need a smoker for the butter and patience to skin the chillies.
Ingredients
For the sauce
2.5kg ripest red chillies (cayenne, serrano or equivalent heat)
½ head of garlic separated into cloves, skin on
3 French shallots
100ml extra virgin olive oil
25g cumin seeds
10g carraway seeds
10g cinnamon quills
275ml aged sherry vinegar
6 limes, juiced
2kg butter, cubed and frozen1.25L chicken stock reduced to around 125ml
175ml Megachef fish sauce
smoked salt
250g za'atar (We use Salloum Bros brand)
125g sumac
For the kishk yoghurt
500g Greek yoghurt
500g dried kishk (available from specialty Middle Eastern grocers)
For the chicken
2kg potato starch (available from Asian grocers)
3.5kg chicken wings (mid and shoulder sections, no wing tips)
vegetable oil for frying
To serve
3 punnets micro coriander
25g dried rose petals
Method
Preheat oven to 200C.
For the harissa, coat chillies, garlic and shallots in the extra virgin olive oil and roast for 20 minutes until soft. Remove from oven and pop garlic cloves and shallots from their skins. Reserve roasting oils and juices.
Remove skins from the chillies. Blend garlic and shallots in batches with the chillies, gradually adding the roasting oil and juices until smooth then pass through a drum sieve.
Lightly dry toast the cumin, caraway and cinnamon until fragrant and grind to a fine powder.
Mix spices, juice of 3 limes and 100ml of sherry vinegar with the chilli paste and blend until smooth and emulsified. Adjust seasoning as necessary.
For the smoked butter, smoke butter in a smoke box using woodchips of your choice (cherry, hickory or cedar are all good options). Refrigerate in an airtight container. (Note: if you don't have a smoker, you could mix a dash of liquid smoke into the butter).For the kishk yoghurt, reconstitute the dried kishk with water as if making porridge then pass through a sieve and chill. Combine with the yoghurt and adjust seasoning.
To complete sauce, combine harissa and reduced chicken stock in a pot and simmer until thick. Add remaining sherry vinegar and reduce until evaporated. Add fish sauce and reduce until evaporated again.At this point, begin to emulsify sauce slowly with the smoked butter, gently removing or applying heat as necessary to achieve a thick and balanced emulsion. Adjust seasoning with remaining lime juice and smoked salt then add za'atar and sumac. Keep warm and stabilised.
For the chicken, liberally coat the wings with potato starch in batches and fry in blended vegetable oil at 180C until the wings float. Drain well.To serve, toss the wings in the prepared sauce and coat well. Arrange wings on serving plates and drizzle with kishk yoghurt. Sprinkle with rose petals and coriander.
Gerard's Bistro is popping up at Movida Aqui on Tuesday, November 8, 500 Bourke Street, Melbourne, click here for tickets. The Age Good Food Month, presented by Citi, runs from November 1 to 30. See goodfoodmonth.com/melbourne
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