Spicy chicken wings served with a cooling garlic dipping sauce

Party food is my favourite food… I love the idea of eating a bit of this with a bit of that. If I could my dinner would consist of several plates of h'orderves with a glass of wine to match each one…unfortunately time does not allow me to indulge in that dream as like most of us I get up at the crack of dawn to beat the traffic to go to work and earn a living…a lady of leisure I am not. I do however inform Captain Vegetarian regularly that being a lady of leisure was a life more suited to me…he doesn’t agree!

I thought I would start off my party food favourites with my spicy chicken wings that I serve with a cooling garlic dipping sauce. They are a little messy...but who cares when something tastes so good!

Serves 4-6

1kg “happy” chicken wingettes (wingette = chicken wings cut in half and the little tip of the wing removed)

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sweet paprika

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 tablespoon chipotle chilli powder

2 teaspoons sea salt

2 teaspoons white pepper

Juice half lemon

Dipping sauce

½ cup whole egg mayonnaise

¼ cup good Greek yoghurt

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Salt to taste

In a large zip lock bag, combine all of the above ingredients except for the lemon juice and dipping sauce. Mix well and leave in the fridge overnight.

Preheat oven 180ºC

Line 2 baking trays with foil and baking paper (trust me about this). Place wingettes on the baking trays. Try no to overcrowd each tray. Reserve any remaining marinade. Cook for 40 minutes turning half way through cooking time.

Add reserved marinade to a small pot and simmer gently until mix has reduced and thickened slightly. Remove from heat and add the juice of half a lemon.

Dipping Sauce

Combine all ingredients and chill for at least 15 minutes. This allows to sauce to magically thicken up and flavours to develop.

To serve place you wingettes on a lovely platter, drizzle with the reduced marinade, scatter with lemon wedges and a nice big bowl of the dipping sauce.

Serviettes are recommended!