Recipe: Honey Feta Chicken Wings from Watershed Pub

 

Pizza. That’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Watershed Pub & Kitchen, a Northgate beer destination for nearly six years now. But because of their creative head chef, there’s much more than pizza on the menu.

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When owners Kelsey and Ben Curran were getting ready to open the pub, they kept hearing the same thing: “have you talked to Artie lately?” Turns out Ben’s old childhood friend Artie had grown up to be a chef. With a culinary school diploma and years of cooking in catering kitchens, Arturo “Artie” Blenman was looking for a new challenge.


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Chef Artie Blenman, GM Jess Hartson and Owner Ben Curran
Chef Artie Blenman, GM Jessica Hartson and Owner Ben Curran

Fast forward six years, and Chef Artie is definitely up to this task. In addition to pizza, the ‘Shed’s menu features seasonal salads, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and meatball dinner nights, soups, happy hour appetizers, grilled sandwiches and desserts. Seasonal menu choices rotate twice a year, in spring and fall. In addition to that, each month a few new specials are introduced that can sometimes land on the regular menu if they are popular enough.

Watershed Pub also has frequent special events that highlight food and beer pairings. The next one is coming up Wednesday, February 26th, the 66th occurrence of their monthly Convergence Series. This month features six beers from Greenwood’s Flying Bike Brewing, paired with off-menu special food items, and benefitting Lambert House. No tickets or reservations necessary, learn more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/515402212387286/.


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Because of his catering background, Chef Artie loves to flex his creativity on event menus, which include their special beer and cider pairing dinners. The pub has a mezzanine available for private special events, and Chef Artie is happy to work with guests to craft special catering menus for their parties.

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If you, like me, have been wondering how the ‘Shed is doing with all that light rail construction and change up at Northgate Mall, there’s no need to worry. Ben reassured us that things seem better than ever, possibly because there are fewer dining options now that the mall has mostly shut down for the major overhaul. November and December just happened to be their best months ever, since opening over six years ago.

Watershed Pub is all ages with a beer garden and a 21+ bar area.

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How Watershed Got their Wings

Chicken wings are the quintessential happy hour and party food. A practically bite-site finger food that is savory, they are a veritable vehicle for fun flavors. Chef Artie has been fielding requests for chicken wings since the restaurant opened nearly six years ago. He didn’t want to do the same old buffalo wing – anyone can put some Frank’s Red Hot on a piece of chicken. Plus there was a challenge  – Watershed Pub’s kitchen doesn’t have a fryer, which is the cooking method of choice for most restaurant wing recipes.

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Watershed’s sister location, Watershed FC at Starfire Sports in Tukwila, did some of the heavy lifting on the testing for this recipe. They figured out a method by which the wings could be cooked in the oven fast enough for restaurant service. Thankfully, Artie and the chef at FC are also old childhood friends, so he was happy to share his tips.

With a few surprisingly simple ingredients, you can make these wings at home. The skin crisped up to a toasty brown which gives the honey something to cling to. Then the feta clings to the honey adding a salty bite. And the squeeze of lemon cuts through the richness. I’m pretty sure these will be the next appetizers we bring to a party.

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These wings will be on the Watershed Pub’s new spring/summer menu starting Friday, March 6th. Come and get em!

Watershed Pub Honey Feta Chicken Wings

– 1 pound of chicken wings

– 2 teaspoons kosher salt

–  1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

– 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

– 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

– 1/2 cup honey (more or less to taste)

– 2 oz crumbled feta

– lemon wedges for garnish

In a large mixing bowl season wings with salt, garlic, pepper and oil.  Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line seasoned wings on a sheet pan and place in oven for 20-25 min (oven times vary). Internal temperature of chicken should reach 165 degrees.

Once out of oven, transfer hot wings to a serving dish and drizzle the honey over them to coat and to taste.  Sprinkle feta over the honey coated wings and serve with lemon wedges.

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Thank you to Watershed Pub for sharing their recipe and time.

If you have a recipe from a Washington State brewpub or beer-focused restaurant that you’d like to try making at home, let us know in the comments or via our Facebook page.

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