Recipes

[gardensla]

I don't eat meat but needed to bring an entree to a pot luck and decided to make it a chicken dish. I'd seen this NYTimes recipe before and bookmarked it due to the amazing reviews. I made it this weekend and the raves were epic. Passing it along. Super simple to make!

RECIPE (in case you want to read the reviews) 

INGREDIENTS

2 lemons, juiced
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
½ teaspoon turmeric
A pinch ground cinnamon
Red pepper flakes, to taste
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large red onion, peeled and quartered
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION

1. Prepare a marinade for the chicken. Combine the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper flakes in a large bowl, then whisk to combine. Add the chicken and toss well to coat. Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.

2. When ready to cook, heat oven to 425 degrees. Use the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to grease a rimmed sheet pan. Add the quartered onion to the chicken and marinade, and toss once to combine. Remove the chicken and onion from the marinade, and place on the pan, spreading everything evenly across it.

3. Put the chicken in the oven and roast until it is browned, crisp at the edges and cooked through, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to rest 2 minutes, then slice into bits. (To make the chicken even more crisp, set a large pan over high heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, then the sliced chicken, and sauté until everything curls tight in the heat.)

4. Scatter the parsley over the top and serve with tomatoes, cucumbers, pita, white sauce, hot sauce, olives, fried eggplant, feta, rice — really anything you desire.

[CatLoverDogsToo]

@gardensla  Looks delicious and low carb, I will be trying this. Thank you for posting it.

[wildcat fan]

Thank you @gardensla!  We had a Mediterranean restaurant near our house that we used to go to every week.  Chicken shawarma was a favorite!  The restaurant closed last fall and lately we've been craving it.  

When we ordered, it came with a white dipping sauce.  Would anybody know what that might have been or how to make it?  It looked a little like ranch dressing and had garlic in it.

[gardensla]

I made taziki to go with it. Yougurt, lemon juice, garlic, shredded cucumber. 

[vabreeze]

@wildcat fan

The link provided by gardensia to the introduction, recipe and reviewers' comments offered this:

"You can make the white sauce that traditionally accompanies it by cutting plain yogurt with mayonnaise and lemon juice, and flecking it with garlic. For a red to offset it, simmer ketchup with red pepper flakes and a hit of red-wine vinegar until it goes syrupy and thick, or just use your favorite hot sauce instead."

[Nightowlz]

Yum!!! Sounds like it would be really good. Thx for sharing the recipe. We eat a lot of chicken so I will try this one.

[sabatini]

I love shawarma too, & years ago had a friend who opened a Mid East restaurant..

Traditional shawarma is always cooked on a vertical spit, and the meat is thinly shaved from it & used to stuff pita bread along w/ all the fixins.

It's the toppings that set Mid East shawarma apart from the Greeks.

Greeks use the meat for gyros & top it w/  tzatziki, tomatoes, etc., while Middle Easterners use hummus, a tahini sauce made of tahini, lemon juice & garlic, etc.

When we were in Israel, they added pickled mangoes.

[islandergirl]

Made the oven-roasted chicken shawarma on Tuesday using chicken breasts because it is what I had on hand - came out delicious!  I marinated it overnight, and cooked on Tuesday.  Served with pita, tzatziki and salad fixings.....this will be a go-to recipe in my home moving forward!