A Leftover Extravaganza!
by Renwick Miller
The Inspiration
So a dear, dear friend saw that I'd been chained to the laptop all week jobhunting, had pity on my broke ass and invited me out for drinks this past Friday night. I stumbled in early Saturday morning hungry as hell, especially since the route home meant walking through West Ridge / Rogers Park, right past four, count 'em, four all night Indo-Pak eateries on Devon Avenue. If you're in Chicago and you've not treated yourself to the strip of absolutely magnificent eating on Devon between Ridge and Kedzie, you're missing out. Here's a Chicago Reader article on the strip that lists 12 restaurants, which I'd easily guesstimate at only half, maybe less. If you know this strip and have eaten somewhere not listed in that article, they're also soliciting reviews, by the way.
It's a fun neighborhood. Amazing restaurants with not only Southeast Asian cuisine, but a sprinkle of Middle Eastern and of course good 'ol American thrown in for good measure. Great grocery (and other) shopping, and I can't mention West Ridge without talking about Argo Georgian Bakery and Levinson's Bakery. DAMN fine bread and stuffed pastries from Argo, with a really cool little cafe setup where you can nosh and watch them make bread in an old-school Georgian style brick oven if your timing's right, which is usually early morning if I remember correctly.
Levinson's... Dear GAWD, these people know what they're doing. My favorite place for sweets within a 5 mile radius, hands down. Check them out. NOW. Seriously, put down the computer and go.
The Execution
So anyway, I'm HOWNGRY (you southerners know this word). I need food, stat. The roughly 20 minute walk gave me more than enough time to mentally inventory the fridge and come up with something to both fill the belly and sate the craving created by those tantalizing smells I encountered. I whipped up something for the immediate that was so damned tasty I decided to do a batch for the week. We're working with;
1 smoked chicken leg quarter (leftover)
1 lb of chicken wing drumlets
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp dill seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 small orange, sliced thin
1 green chile pepper, sliced thin
1-2 tbsp black pepper, to taste
8 oz of wing sauce (spicy or mild, up to you)
6 oz of tahini
2-3 handfuls of fresh spinach
1/2 to 1 cup of water, eyeballed in the mix beforehand or added as the cooking happens.
Below's a shot of the chopped ingredients sans chile, orange, and spinach which came to mind later. With the knife in the shot for perspective, you can see what's there amounts to about 1 dry measure cup.
For cooking, I'm going with the crock pot on a six hour cycle, though I'm imagining this would work equally well in the oven at 375-400° for about an hour to 90 minutes. Either way, cook low and slow until the meat falls off the bone.
Things To Watch
The only real concern I can see here is the heat (spice) quotient. I'd reccomend mixing everything and adding the chicken last, so you can taste the mix as you go. I started with a little too much wing / hot sauce, and overcompensated with tahini, thus the sliced chile peppers added later. Play with it and have fun. When you find it's to your liking, add the chicken and start cooking. Keep in mind too that this would work well with beef, lamb or goat.
I'm making no claims to authenticty here but served with rice, yougurt and naan... Good eats!
