Mediterranean style Roasted Chicken with Garlic basted Roasted veggies

For a new twist to your traditional Christmas home roast, why not try a Mediterranean one.

Living and working in the Middle East esp. the cosmopolitan Dubai, you get to meet a whole lot of people from all over the world.

I have a fair share of friends from all over the Middle East. Learning their cultural cuisines was one of my favourite learning. So I did get a lot of recipes and tips from them.

This one is for the adventurous YOU who just doesn't want a traditional Christmas roast but exploring each year and wow-ing your guests and loved ones each time.

What you need:

For the Marinade

• 1 lemon
• 1 cup of Tomato paste or puree 
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp coriander powder (freshly powdered from coriander seeds)
• A mix of herbs such as Marjoram,Oregano,Sumac,Thyme and Rosemary
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder (freshly powdered from cumin seeds)
• 1 tbsp Salt

Other ingredients:

• Whole spices such as Bayleaf, Cinnamon, cloves
• 5-6 Garlic cloves - crushed
• 4-5 medium sized potatoes (skin-on), cleaned well
• 1200 gms chicken (skin-on)
• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 2-3 tomatoes, chopped
• Shallots/Onions, chopped

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Roasting Time: 1-1 hr and 20 minutes

1.Boil the potatoes with a few stabs in between (no need to cut them now) until half boiled. You can added carrots or other veggies too if you like.

2.Slit the chicken on all sides esp. legs taking care not to cut too much into the meat. On a non-stick roasting pan, add 2 tbsp EVOO, and brown the chicken on all sides, esp the legs as they take longer to cook.

3.Then wait for the chicken to cool down a bit and then add the whole spices in the roasting pan around the chicken. Also place the shallots around in the pan. Rub the marinade well on the chicken and in the cavity and into the slits made earlier.

4. Boil a lemon whole for 5-10 minutes. The larger lemons (not available here) need 10 minutes. Next stab in a couple of times around the lemon and stuff it into the cavity of the chook.

5. Toss in the boiled potatoes cut in quarters.

6. Roast chicken on wire rack (optionally) with the same roasting pan below at 150°C for an hour and then up to 20 minutes on 180°C breast side facing down until the skin is nicely crisp.

7. Meanwhile, to prep the roasted potatoes crush 5-6 cloves of garlic using a mortar and pestle (you can also use an electric grinder) add a little EVOO and further crush to a creamy garlic paste.

8. Add a dash of salt and marinade chopped tomatoes with the creamy paste. When the chook is ready, place the potatoes on a serving dish, pour the garlic paste with tomatoes and some of the juices from the roasting pan.

9. Add some lemon juice from the lemon from the chook's cavity and toss well.

Serve the roasted potatoes on the side of the chicken with some hummus and white rice if you need.

Bon Appetit! Hope you liked our Mediterranean style Christmas Chicken roast!

Try G'Gina's Kitchenette's Hummus recipe here

Za'atar ( A Middle Eastern Spice Blend)

Born and raised in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), I have gorged on several Arabic and Mediterranean dishes. Some of my friends have been asking me to post recipes of Arabic cuisine and this is my first post of Arab cuisine.

Za'atar is a herb which is a blend of several flavoursome spices. Since I am now in India, it took us a while to go around town to pick up these spices, luckily not in vain. I finally reach the Godrej's Nature Basket in Hyderabad where I actually found the Za'atar spice blend. However as I learnt while living in Dubai, there are different proportions of blending these spices across the Levantine region specific to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine to make Za'atar. The result is that the flavour is slightly varied. My personal favourite is the Lebanese version. I decided to make my own Za'atar as I was unsure of the consistency of the packaged Za'atar at the store. The store also had all the herbs required to make Za'atar although I picked some of mine from Q-Mart that I visited the day before.

Za'atar can be topped on meats, rice , veggies and most importantly breads like Manakish (made of wholewheat or fine flour dough similar to Pita bread) or on Pies (thicker and smaller rounds). Again I prefer the Manakish wrap over pies. You can use the same dough mix. The difference lies in the rolling of the dough. To make Za'atar -

You need:
1/2 cup dried sumac *dried lemon peel can be used if unavailable

The ingredients

4 tbsp dried thyme
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
4 tbsp dried marjoram (a version of oregano however varied)
4 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp of kosher salt/coarse salt

*Note: I tried making Za'atar with the above quantities of sumac, thyme and sesame seeds. However, the next time, I plan on using equal quantities of sumac,and thyme or may be more thyme and lesser quantity of sumac than thyme and at least 1/2 cup of sesame seeds which I felt was lacking in my blend.

Method:


Preparation Time: 10 minutes| Makes 3/4 of a small jar/bottle

• If you do not have ready made roasted sesame seeds, you can dry roast it in a skillet (do not burn). Alternatively, you can also place it on a baking tray and toast it. However I find it takes lesser time to dry roast the sesame seeds and I can control the roasting process. It took me all of 2 minutes on a medium flame to do this.

Sesame seeds just landed on my skillet

Roasted Sesame Seeds

• Semi-grind the roasted sesame seeds with the remaining ingredients
• Store in a sterile, air tight jar or bottle and keep in a dry, cool and dark place. You can also store it in a zip-lock bag. 

If stored properly, this blend would last at least 3 months.

Za'atar 

 *Note: as you can see from the mix above, the sumac was overpowering the blend, however I wanted to have the Lebanese mixture, so next time I will increase thyme and reduce the sumac quantity. Also I will add more sesame seeds.

Za'atar all bottled up ready to rest

When using the Za'atar on bread, take the required quantity of Za'atar and add olive oil, mix well and top on your favourite bread!