Lemon & Oregano Marinade

I think I’ve shared before that I lived in Adelaide a few years ago. I moved there for work originally planning to be there a year. I ended up staying five years for the food, the wine and the people around me!

It was during this time a group of my friends and I created a cards night. We figured if the boys could have a poker night, we could have a girls canasta night. We would rotate who hosted and served dinner, with the guests bringing the drinks. Generally it was just before our pay checks would arrive for the month so it was the perfect way to have a fun cheap night in, particularly in the winter months. We’d share a few bottles of wine, our recipes, stories and have sometimes epic card matches against each other.

I miss these evenings, and the friends too, as we all live across the country and travel so much, its pretty hard to keep in touch beyond Facebook messages and quick phone calls. So Ann-Maree, Nat, Louise & Sandy, this recipe is for you!

This particular recipe kinda of just happened when I was hosting my rounds of these dinners. I can’t lay claim to it, but I also can’t tell you where it came from either, it just is. It turned into such a popular dish that I’ve been making and sharing the recipe ever since. I’ve used chicken wings in this instant, but you can use any part of the chook, or even marinade a whole one and roast it, it would be divine. It’s also a flavour combination that goes superbly with lamb and fish. Finally one other tip, don’t use lemon juice as a substitute for the rind. The juice will actually start to cook the meat whilst its marinating in it and you’ll end up with it being very tough and quite bitter.

Lemon & Oregano Meat Marinade

1 kg chicken wings
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp cracked black pepper
3 tbl sp dried oregano

Combine all your ingredients into a container or freezer bag and massage the ingredients into the meat.

You can cook this straight away, but I would recommend allowing it to sit for at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight before baking in the oven or cooking on the BBQ. The time this takes will depend on your cut of meat.