Tag: chicken recipe

Roasted Summer Chicken

After weeks of summer prep and camp shopping, I am SO HAPPY that I can officially say welcome the start of summer. The kids are in camp. Everyone is settled in. And I am relishing every moment.

I try to keep dinners simple in the summer, but after a day of running around in the summer heat, and hours spent at the pool, my kids voracious appetites demand more than just frozen pizza. They are HUNGRY! I try to keep the fridge stocked with lots of fruits and veggies, plenty of protein in the freezer and fresh herbs on the window sill.

I think we all associate summer with barbecue but I try to do away with heavy bottled sauces and season food simply instead. Juicy seasonal tomatoes, fresh summer corn and a bunch of fragrant basil are always handy, which is how this delicious light summer dinner came together in no time. My kids literally licked their plates clean!

Now that corn is in season, here’s a great trick for cutting it!!

Israeli couscous is another summer staple – it rounds out the meal, cooks in five minutes, and isn’t as heavy as other starches. But feel free to serve with any starch of your choice!

Roasted Summer Chicken

2 ears fresh corn, shucked
1 heaping cup grape tomatoes
4 chicken legs
1 tsp chili powder
kosher salt, to taste
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
drizzle of honey

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the corn on the bottom of a 9×13 pan, scatter tomatoes around the pan and top with chicken thighs. Sprinkle the chicken with chili powder and salt and spread the basil on top. Drizzle olive oil and honey and squeeze lime juice over the top. Cover tightly with foil and bake for one hour. Uncover, baste with the sauce and bake at 400 degrees for an additional 20-25 minutes, until chicken is browned.

Serve with couscous, quinoa or rice.

NOTE: if you dont have fresh corn on hand, you can substitute 1 package frozen corn (thawed) or 1 can corn, drained.

Related Recipes:

chimichicken
ratatouille roast chicken
corn and heirloom tomato salad with basil lime vinaigrette 

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Bundt Pan Rotisserie Chicken

I have a confession to make. I used to be afraid of chicken. And I don’t mean of eating it.

Yes, you read that right. When I was a teenager, I wasn’t too fond of helping in the kitchen, and when I had to make chicken, lets just say it was an ordeal. I always wore gloves, but sometimes the chicken got the better of me and I would throw it into the sink, terrified that it would come to life and leap at me.

I mean, do you blame me? Look at that chicken sitting there all pretty. It looks so…well…human.

It took a few years, but I got over my fear. And just time in time for this GENIUS homemade crispy rotisserie chicken hack.

I can’t take credit for this stroke of brilliance. All credit goes to Justin Chapple, the senior editor of Food & Wine Magazine, who’s Mad Genius Tips constantly blow me away!

When I saw a short clip of this easy bunt pan rotisserie chicken on Instagram, I was all over it. I made it for Shabbat that week, and I’ve been making it ever since. It’s my husband’s favorite way to eat chicken, and we always fight over the crispier-than-ever chicken wings!

My favorite thing about this recipe is that it’s super healthy and indulgent nonetheless. You feel like you’re eating fried chicken (it’s that crispy!), but without those extra calories. It also makes a great one-dish meal when you add potatoes or other veggies.

Bundt Pan Rotisserie Chicken

1 whole chicken
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 sticks celery, diced
a few sprigs of thyme
1 lemon, cut in quarters (do not peel)
1 bay leaf
olive oil
salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 425. Place the vegetables and aromatics around the bundt pan and cover the hole with a piece of foil. Pat the chicken dry and rub with olive oil, salt and pepper and place the chicken cavity over the bundt pan stick. Roast for approximately 1 hour, until chicken is cooked through (internal temperature should be 165 degrees) and the skin is golden and crisp.

VARIATION: You may use other vegetables and/or aromatics, such as parsnips, turnips, potatoes, fresh garlic cloves (no need to peel), rosemary etc. If you are roasting vegetables that you’d like to serve with the chicken (such as potatoes) and they aren’t tender by the time the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken from the bundt pan and return the vegetables to the oven, baking until tender.

NOTE: Try to keep the chicken as raised as possible. This ensures that the skin gets crispy all around.

Related Recipes:

lemon & garlic whole roasted chicken

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Harissa Roasted Chicken

For the longest time, spicy foods didn’t interest me. I grew up eating so much of the sweet stuff, I thought chicken was best loaded with sugary sauce. My bubby always doused her dishes in sugar, the more the better, and my mother did the same. Fish, chicken, salad, pasta, potatoes – everything was prepared sweet.

When I first got married, I followed suit, prepping my dishes with the holy trinity of spices: salt, pepper, and sugar! Lots of sweet BBQ sauces, sticky duck sauce and natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup. Sometimes I paired them with mustard for a little kick, but hot peppers never made it into my kitchen, and spicy was off the map.

My husband grew up similarly, even though he has sephardic roots. My South American mother in law loaded her keftes (meatballs) with sugar, and her Syrian mechshie was almost always sweet too. Sweet beet and carrot salads were often on the menu as well, always with added sugar.

But then I became a foodie. It evolved slowly – starting with simple family recipes on my blog, my interest in food evolved into passion and curiosity for different flavors and International cuisine. Slowly but surely, I broadened my culinary horizons by exploring the many flavors and textures of different foods. My husband was not as quick to embrace my food journey, but he eventually came around and started to appreciate flavors that he didn’t grow up eating.

I’ve grown (quite literally) to love spicy foods like Pad Thai, curries and salsas, and ingredients like harissa, sriracha and chili peppers are mainstays in my kitchen. I now save the sweets for the desserts, and do my best to keep my dishes savory, or at least to add an element of spice, to keep the flavors balanced.

One of the best parts about eating spicy and savory foods like this harissa roasted chicken, is that it’s lighter on the waistline but doesn’t compromise on flavor. Zoodles (zucchini noodles) make this dish Paleo and Whole30 compliant, so if you’ve joined the popular diet trend (which I wrote an ebook on!), this makes for a delicious and filling dinner, and you can save leftovers for lunch the next day. You gotta love that!

Harissa Roasted Chicken

3-4 boneless chicken breasts (skin on preferably)
salt and pepper, taste
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 small onion, diced small
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/3 cup harissa (North African chili paste)
1 pint grape tomatoes
sliced preserved lemons or 1 lemon, thinly sliced
1 large zucchini, julienned with a julienne peeler or spiralized

Method:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and sear in olive oil in an oven-safe pan until browned. Remove from pan. Add diced onion and garlic and saute until golden. Pour in the stock and scrape up the bits from the bottom of the pan. Add grape tomatoes and nestle the chicken between them. Brush the chicken with harissa and top with lemon slices. Sprinkle everything with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil .

Roast, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. If the chicken/lemon/tomatoes aren’t browned enough, broil for 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and add in the zucchini noodles. Mix the noodles into the sauce and stir until tender. Serve with chicken.

VARIATION: if you’re not watching your carbs, feel free to use pasta instead of zucchini noodles.

Other spicy recipes:

spicy tuna melt twice baked potatoes
quinoa pad thai
spicy roasted edamame
kani salad
cauliflower nachos with harissa cheddar sauce

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Chicken Shawarma

I was never much of a shawarma person. In fact, in my entire year of living in Israel, I don’t think I even ordered it once. I’m more of a falafel girl. Fully loaded in a freshly baked laffa – pure heaven.

But something interesting happens when you have kids. Picky kids. Kids who don’t like the BBQ marks on their grilled chicken, or the crumbs on their shnitzel. Kids who won’t eat fish. Or most types of meat. When you have such kids, you start to make foods that you never imagined you’d be cooking – like shawarma.

When said kid tasted a bite of my husbands shawarma and liked it (how he got her to do that is beyond me), I knew I had to learn to make my own. And that’s exactly what I did. The first couple of times, said kid was licking her plate. Now she has decided she no longer likes it. And I have decided, I do. How’s that for irony?

Chicken Shawarma

1.5-2 lbs. dark meat chicken
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/4 c + 1 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 tbsp shawarma spice (use a spice blend or recipe below)
salt, to taste

Method:

Dice the chicken into small pieces and place in a bowl with 1/4 cup of olive oil and shawarma spice. Set aside to marinate while you cook the onions.

Saute the onions in 1 tbsp of olive oil until caramelized. Add marinated chicken and saute until the chicken is no longer pink.

Serve with hummus, techina, Israeli salad, red cabbage salad (recipe follows)

TIP: Dice the chicken when it’s partially frozen to make chopping easier.

Shawarma Spice

1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp black pepper
salt, to taste

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix to combine.

Israeli-Style Red Cabbage Salad

shredded cabbage
olive oil
fresh-squeezed lemon juice
garlic powder
kosher salt

Method:

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix until combined. Marinate until cabbage is slightly wilted.

Other Israel-Inspired Recipes:

roasted eggplants with Israeli salad
malawach cheese pastries with zaatar
chestnut hummus with pita chips
sachlav rose water pudding
banana, date, milk & honey smoothie

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Honey Roasted Za’atar Chicken with Fruit

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty big on za’atar right now. But regardless of my newfound love of the spice mix, I’ve been making a variation of this chicken for quite some time. I decided to kick it up a notch for the holidays by adding red wine, honey and dried fruit for a festive finish.

Za’atar is a mixed herb and spice blend popular in the Middle East. It’s primarily made up of sumac, thyme, oregano, sesame seeds and salt. The spice blend is widely available in supermarkets, but you can also find it on amazon.

Other za’atar recipes:

grilled corn with za’atar garlic compound butter
malawach cheese pastries with dipping sauce

Honey Roasted Za’atar Chicken with Dried Fruit

1 pkg chicken, quartered
3 tbsp za’atar
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
approximately 20oz. dried fruit (I use apricots and pitted prunes)
1/2 cup dry red wine
kosher salt, to taste
1/3 cup honey

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread out dried fruit on the bottom of a 9×13 pan. In a bowl, combine the za’atar and olive oil to create a paste. Rub the za’atar over the chicken (skin-on) and place on top of dried fruit. Pour wine into the pan and sprinkle everything with salt. Cover and bake for 1 hour.

Uncover the chicken and drizzle honey all around. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce.

Related recipes:

sweet Hawaiian chicken
Rosh Hashanah roast
honey mustard chicken pastrami roulade

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