ZA'ATAR ROASTED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH GREEN TAHINI AND ISRAELI COUSCOUS

Za'atar Roasted Chicken Thighs

This is an adaptation from Chef Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for Za'atar Roasted Chicken With Green Tahini that appeared in the August 2014 issue of Bon Appetit.  Since I had all of the ingredients on hand, this one certainly piqued my interest.  I made it with chicken thighs and served it over Israeli Couscous which absorbed all of the flavors from the chicken marinade. The Green Tahini was a perfect side condiment that added an exceptional flavor to the dish.

 

Za'atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend that is typically made with sumac, thyme, roasted sesame seeds, marjoram and oregano.  It is versatile and can be used on poultry, meats, vegetables, rice, and breads.

 

 

Tahini is a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds.  It is used in many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines.

 

Parsley, Garlic, Tahini, Lemons

Green Tahini:

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 cup (lightly packed) flat-leaf parsley leaves

1/2 cup tahini

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup olive oil

 

Chicken:

3-4 Chicken Thighs

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, smashed

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed

1 tablespoon sumac

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup water

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons za'atar

For the Green Tahini:  Pulse garlic, parsley, tahini,  add lemon juice in a food processor. Add olive oil until a smooth paste is formed.

For the Chicken Thighs:  Preheat oven to 400°. Toss chicken, onions, garlic, lemon slices, sumac, allspice, cinnamon, water, and 1/4 cup oil in a large dish, cover with plastic film.  Chill in the fridge for at least 4hours.

 

Chicken in Marinade

Remove chicken from fridge and place the chicken, onions, garlic, and lemon slices in a baking pan.  Add the remaining marinade over and around chicken pieces. Sprinkle chicken with za'atar seasoning and drizzle with olive oil.  Roast until chicken is browned and cooked through, about 55 minutes.

Serve chicken over couscous with green tahini as a condiment.

BASIL WALNUT PESTO

Basil from the Farmers Market

I know. Not another Pesto recipe.  Yes, but after a visit to my Farmers Market and purchasing a beautiful bunch of basil, the first thing that entered my mind was pesto.  So I decided to do a take on the traditional Italian recipe that uses pine nuts in pesto and used walnuts instead.  Simple and very good. And the food cost was about one-third the price than using the pine nuts. I never add cheese, so the leftover pesto (if there is any), could be frozen for up to about three months.

On the other hand, I used a premium pasta from Academia Barilla and served it with shrimps, And I still met a less than 25 percent food cost for this dish. 

BASIL WALNUT PESTO

3 cups basil firmly packed (about 3 weighted ounces)

1/4 cup walnuts
4 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine basil, walnuts and garlic in a food processor.  Pulse until all ingredients are mixed, being careful not to "over-process" which could start to "cook" the basil.  Then, slowly add the olive oil until there is a moist paste.  That's it.  The yield is about 2 cups.

 

Fresh Basil with Roots

 

Wash Basil and spin dry.

 

Spin Dry Basil

 

Spin-Dried Basil

 The basket weighs 1.5 oz, so the actual weight of the basil is about 3.25 oz.

Weighing the basil

Processed Pesto



Basil Walnut Pesto

Basil Walnut Pesto With Shrimps

Since I don't add cheese to my pesto, I sometimes add it at the end--even if there are shrimps in the dish.



And Topped With Cheese
 

BARNYARD FRIED CHICKEN AND "SPICY" CORNBREAD



Barnyard Fried Chicken

Spicy Cornbread

I don't fry or bake very much, either in the sun or in the kitchen.  But after a visit to Red Rooster in Harlem, I was tempted to make Chef Marcus Samuelsson's Fried Yardbird--chicken in the slang of old Harlem.  Huge portions of legs and thighs were served with mace gravy and bread and butter pickles.  The thick crust and tender chicken inside was superb.  I wanted to make this. Or "try" to.

Red Rooster's Fried Yardbird

Since Chef Samuelsson was featured on the TODAY Show and made the Fried Yardbird earlier that week, I pulled the recipe from the website and scaled it down and adapted it to create my own Fried Yardbird that I call Barnyard Chicken.  I used only chicken drumsticks.

According to the recipe, I marinated drumsticks in the typical buttermilk that virtually all fried chicken recipes call for, along with some coconut milk and a mixture of spices, which Chef Samuelsson calls a Chicken Shake.  For the dredging mixture, I added some Bourbon Smoked Pepper and used canola oil for frying.  

Although I have an electric deep fryer, I opted to use my Dutch oven and my Candy/Deep Fry thermometer.  It took a while and half-way through I was concerned about the chicken not getting brown enough, but in the last 4-5 minutes, it started to turn golden.  And then I drained the drumsticks on a wire rack. I read that draining on paper towels continues to steam the chicken more while a wire rack allows air to circulate around it.  It worked.  That was frying.

And then there's baking...the cornbread.  Although I didn't order the cornbread at Red Rooster, it was one of the featured items listed on Red Rooster's window.  Three of the others were the Fried (Yardbird) Chicken; Shrimp and Grits, which I also had that day and is on "my list" to make; and Bourbon, which I also had that day.  I found the recipe for Red Rooster's cornbread and gave it a try with some slight adaptations.  I used smoked paprika and ground cumin as a substitute for the aleppo flakes in the original recipe.  And it turned out to be a fresh and spicy home-made cornbread that went well with the Barnyard Chicken that I served alongside baked sweet potatoes and garlic spinach.  Since it was a rainy Saturday in the middle of the summer, it was a good time to cook, have some bourbon, and listen to Frank Sinatra.  I know.  Frank is for cooking Italian food--not Soul food.  But Frank was a gentleman and definitely had a lot of soul.

In the end, I got accolades for my attempt at making soul food.  I was told that it was like a visit to Harlem without the traffic. 

 
BARNYARD CHICKEN

For Chicken Shake Spice Mix

Ingredients for Chicken Shake

1/8 Tablespoon ground Garlic
1/2 Tablespoon ground Cumin
1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
1/2 Tablespoon ground White Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Celery Salt
1 Tablespoon Berbere*
1/8 Tablespoon Kosher Salt

Mix all ingredients together and store in a container. This scaled-down recipe makes about 1/2 cup of Chicken Shake Spice.



Chicken Shake Spice Mix

*Berbere is a spice mixture that is a key ingredient in Ethopian cuisines.  Berbere ingredients include chili peppers, garlic, ginger, dried basil, korarima (Ethopian cardamom), rue, ajwain or radhuni, nigella, and fenugreek.

 

For Marinade

3 cups Buttermilk
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons minced Garlic
1 Tablespoon Chicken Shake
6 Chicken Drumsticks

Mix buttermilk with coconut milk, garlic and the Chicken Shake Spice Mix.  Add drumsticks to mixture and marinade in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight.

For Dredging and Frying

3/4 cup AP Flour
2 Tablespoons Semolina Flour
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Bourbon Smoked Pepper
1 Tablespoon Chicken Shake
2.5 quarts Canola Oil


Mix the flours, cornstarch and pepper to create a breading.
Remove chicken from the fridge and drip off excess marinade.
Roll chicken in the dredging mix and shake to remove excess.
Fill a deep pot with oil and bring to 325 F.

Chicken Ready to Fry

Carefully drop the chicken drumsticks into the pot and fry for about 20-25 minutes, until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F.
Remove chicken from oil and let drain on wire racks.

Not exactly Red Rooster, but...

"SPICY" CORN BREAD
 

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, buttermilk, and olive oil.
Combine the two mixtures and stir until a smooth consistency.

Cornbread Mixtures

Coat a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with olive oil.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are golden brown.