The delightful medley of fragrant, exotic spices, the rich savory chicken flavor, the smoky undertones of a street rotisserie… When the craving for an amazing chicken shawarma meal strikes, we can’t all rush out to the nearest street market to enjoy traditional shawarma, as much as we might want to.
But fear not, this recipe is here to bring your heart joy by providing you a way to enjoy some of the most delicious food on the planet – made easily in your own home!
The method is very different, but the flavor is similar and very tasty. I have been sitting on my hands to stop me from sharing this recipe sooner – it’s one of my great favorites, and is adapted from Janna Gur’s “Homemade Shawarma”, in The Book of New Israeli Food.
HOMEMADE CHICKEN SHAWARMA
INGREDIENTS:
3 lbs deboned chicken thighs or about 5 lbs chicken legs
Marinade: ½ cup vegetable or olive oil
2-3 Tbsp mild yellow curry powder
2 Tbsp soy or tamari sauce
1 Tbsp garam masala (mild Indian spice mixture, if desired)
1 Tbsp powdered chicken bouillon
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground paprika
INSTRUCTIONS:
Place all the chicken in a very large bowl or container.
In a separate small bowl, mix all marinade ingredients and stir/whisk till smooth. Add to chicken and mix well, making sure every piece is covered.
Cover. Marinate in the fridge a minimum of 5 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/ 200 degrees C.
Arrange all pieces on a foil-lined large baking sheet with sides. Bake for about 45 minutes or till chicken is done. Inhale the glorious aroma while it’s baking.
If using thighs, thinly slice chicken before serving. If using legs, leave them whole (or debone, if desired).
Serve with rice pilaf and a salad; over couscous with sliced tomato, cucumber, peppers and onion; with tabbouleh; in a pita with tomatoes, cucumbers and plain yogurt; with a buttery orzo and spinach; rolled up in a wrap; or with whatever sides strike your fancy.
I hope you try this wonderful, easy chicken soon – and please let me know how you liked it!
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Juicy, mouth-watering burgers, prepped early, then baked and served hot from the oven, means you get to hear the cheers without a lot of last-minute work. One of my family’s favorite dinners!
My kids love burgers!
I love this recipe because it’s delicious, easy, and I can prep it early – even a day before – and then bake the foil-wrapped burgers for about fifteen minutes, and suddenly I feel like a hero!
Saving yet another day with an amazing, scrumptious, low-stress dinner. No cape necessary. (But no judgment if you want to wear one while serving.)
Boom.
(adapted from justapinch.com)
Who knew one little foil packet could contain such happiness? (Well, my kids do, now!)
INGREDIENTS:
12 hamburger buns
12 hamburger patties, made, seasoned, and cooked any way you like (I make my own – see bottom for recipe)
4 Tbsp finely diced dill pickle (about 4-5 baby dills, or 2-3 medium pickles) – I add more!
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp paprika (I use smoked paprika)
dash hot sauce or cayenne powder, optional
Mix together in bowl, stirring well. Set aside if using shortly or refrigerate till ready to use.
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare and cook the burger patties till almost done, set aside. (They will continue to cook in oven.)
3. Melt butter (or heat olive oil) in saute pan on stove on med-low heat. Add sliced onions, stir. Cook till softened and golden, about five-ten minutes. Sprinkle lightly with salt, if desired. Set aside.
4. Spread sauce on top and bottom of hamburger buns, then place a slice of cheese on each side. Or only one side, depending on how cheesy you feel.
5. Placed cooked hamburger patty on one side of bun and top with a spoonful of caramelized onion and then the other side of bun.
6. Wrap in foil (I use about 12″ square and wrap on the diagonal, but you do what you want.), and bake in oven for 12-1 5 minutes, till cheese has melted.
7. Serve warm with whatever sides make your heart sing: fries and salad, chips, potato salad, steamed broccoli, sautéed green beans… Go side crazy.
8. Be a hero. I always feel like I’m one to my kids when I serve this meal! They get so happy unwrapping that foil to eat the juicy, cheesy, delicious burgers inside. And I get happy hearing about their feelings of happiness.
Enjoy (the burgers and the compliments)!
*BONUS RECIPE!
HAMBURGER PATTIES A LA MARIA
2 lbs ground sirloin or lean ground beef
1 packet dry onion soup mix
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal (Don’t judge. I’m trying to stretch my beef to feed my horde. Leave this out, and the egg, if you are a purist and don’t need the extra stretch. Note that you will likely have fewer/thinner patties.)
1 egg
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup diced bacon (optional)
1. Mix all ingredients gently but thoroughly.
2. Divide into twelve equal parts, shape into balls. Gently press into evenly flattish patties with hands, maybe about 1/3 of an inch thick. Make an indentation in the center (this is to help them cook through the middle). I put my finished patties on a baking sheet until I’m ready to cook them.
3. Cook on medium heat on the grill or griddle or skillet till done, turning once, about 2 mins or less each side. (I use my big electric griddle and cook about 8 at a time.)
4. Place on a paper-towel-lined baking sheet, set aside till assembling hamburgers.
A Miller family favorite, this delightful and easy dinner is a weekly event in our home! Basic French Bread recipe below.
Fresh French Bread rolls, with spicy pickles; Brie with carmelized onions, brown sugar, and apricot preserves; blanched asparagus spears; sliced ripe strawberries; assorted deli meats; and a sliced aged Gouda.
A delicious, simple meal focusing on bread, an assortment of cheeses, sliced vegetables and fresh fruits, olives, pickles, meats, and often a small dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. Versatile and breezy, feel free to include whatever sides make you happy!
Hard-boiled or deviled eggs? Hummus and pita? Tapenade, bruschetta, or goat cheese – we love them all! Add a small bowl of whatever seasonal fruits or berries you find available as a special treat, as this meal is something of a celebration!
In our home we take special notice of Friday evening, marking it with a special meal and some family traditions like a special blessing and family Communion before sharing the food together. It’s something my children eagerly anticipate each week. Pausing to acknowledge the week’s end and to give thanks for the rest and refreshment that the weekend provides while refocusing on the blessings God has given us is an important part of the cadence of our family life.
While this Friday meal is special, it is by no means difficult. The majority of the food is usually handheld (although we do often include a salad), and that makes it enjoyable and relaxing, especially for the kids! (They lovingly refer to this meal as “Bread-and-Cheese”). To make it even more celebratory, we often include a sparkling juice for the kids and wine for the adults.
I usually start thinking and planning for it during the week and try to stock up on the things I will want for it so it becomes simply a matter of just laying it all out by Friday afternoon.
I hope you find this an inspiration to create your own delicious, simple, yet celebratory family feast soon!
Buon apetito!
Here’s my recipe for French Bread, which I make about once a week and shape into many versatile forms – Enjoy!
Basic French Bread Recipe
This recipe is inspired from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day, my most-used bread recipe book. I don’t usually have time to make bread dough the day before, nor do I usually have the fridge space to chill it overnight like many of his recipes require, so I just simplify the process and dump the ingredients in my sweet and helpful bread machine, Melba. (Don’t tell Peter.) If you don’t have a lovely Melba-machine of your own, here’s the link to Peter’s original recipe: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120580907
Meet Melba:
Melba, my faithful little kitchen handmaiden of doughy gloriousness.
Melba is a wonder. I just punch in the number for dough (on this machine, #8), put my ingredients in the metal bucket in the right order (making sure that paddle is in there, too). Then I hit the “start” button and one-and-a-half-hours later, I have some beautiful dough ready to go, already risen once and ready for shaping!
Ingredients:
2 cups lukewarm water
2 TBSP olive oil (if desired, technically this voids the “authentic” French bread part of it, but I do it anyway. You decide.)
3 tsp salt
5 1/4 cups bread flour (Yes, bread flour. It’s going to give that springy, delightful chewiness that makes French bread so wonderful. BUT. If you don’t have it, you can absolutely use all-purpose and it will be fine.)
2 1/4 tsp active yeast
Put all ingredients in bread machine bucket IN ORDER LISTED (basically note that all wet ingredients go first, then the dry and then yeast on top).
Wait for it… push that button! And boom. Walk away, knowing that your little friendly Melba-machine is going to take care of everything and transform the simple ingredients into something beautiful.
Here’s Melba in action.
OK. Once Melba is done and starts beeping at me, I take the dough bucket and dump it out on a clean, often lightly-sprayed-with-oil surface. In my house, the only place I have room is my dining room table.
While I start this, I often turn my oven on to heat to 170 degrees F. for about two minutes., then I turn it off. (My oven gets pretty hot pretty fast) I do this because I want a warm safe place to let the buns rise, and any hotter isn’t good.
Then I roll out the dough and divide it evenly in half, then half again, so I have four equal dough pieces. For buns, I roll these out lengthwise, then slice them down the middle, then start chopping them up into little blobs about 1 1/2″ across.
Then I roll the blobs into smooth balls and place about an inch apart on a greased baking sheet – in this case, usually my lovely 11×17″ baking sheets. I can fit quite a few buns on these, and often get about 35-40 buns on one.
When I’m all done with the rolling, I put the pans in the oven with the light on and let them rise for 30 minutes. They should be visibly larger by the end of this time. Then, I take them out of the oven and preheat it to 400 degrees F.
I bake them for 12 minutes. Sometimes 13, but rarely more than that. I prefer softer over crunchy, but it’s a matter of taste. If you like more crispy, bake for about 14-15 mins.
Take ’em out and let ’em cool a bit before slicing in half to ease using as little hand-held sandwiches, or serve warm in a bowl with a towel.
By this point, the house usually smells like a glorious fresh hot bread bonanza, and I can rarely resist grabbing one fresh from the pan, stabbing it open with a knife and slathering butter in the middle. I then eat it quickly, giving thanks for such delights as hot fresh bread and butter all the while. If you have fresh strawberry freezer jam, that’s always a great option too. Or a slice of a densely salty aged Gouda or a tangy sharp white cheddar… Or just a lovely drizzle of a good balsamic reduction and a dollop of olive oil.
Makes 4 medium-size baguette loaves, 2 large French or Italian-size loaves, or many buns (based on how big you make the dough blobs). Usually it’s enough for my family of 10 to get full for dinner and still have over a dozen buns leftover.
