Nigella's Za'atar Chicken

blucoat's Note:

This recipe delivers amazing results with virtually no effort. It's from Nigella Lawson's cookbook "Forever Summer". Za'atar is an addictive Middle Eastern spice blend that you can buy or prepare yourself. Chicken requires at least 2 hours of marinating time. Serve with pita crisps and salad.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 chicken, cut into 8 pieces or 8 mixed chicken pieces
• 1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons za'atar spice mix
• salt, to taste (Maldon salt is recommended)

Directions:

1. In large mixing bowl or resealable plastic bag, combine chicken, oil and za'atar. Rub spices and oil all over chicken pieces. Cover (or close) and refrigerate 2 hours to overnight.
2. Transfer chicken to baking sheet, skin side up. Roast in preheated 425°F oven 45 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with salt.

Reviews

[Chef #242953]

Haven't tried this version yet, but I shall. My version, given me by my daughter in the USA, uses a crock pot or slow cooker and is quite delicious and extremely easy -

1 cup dried pitted prunes

1 cup dried apricots

1 (2.5 ounce) jar green pitted Spanish olives, no pimento, drained

1 tablespoon Za%u2019atar spice

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 ½ tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves


1. You may remove the skin from the chicken if desired

2. Fill the bottom of your crock pot with a combination of the dried prunes and apricots in a single layer. Top with the olives.

3. In a small bowl, mix the Za%u2019atar spice, tumeric, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and olive oil. Stir to make a paste. Rub the paste all over each piece of chicken. Lay the chicken on the olives, the parts may overlap.

4. Sprinkle with the oregano leaves.

5. Cover, and cook on low for 6 hours; do not overcook or the white meat will be very dry.

[Mia in Germany]

I'm so used to just use za'atar with bread or bread substitutes that it never occured to me to use it with meat or fish! When I browsed for za'atar recipes here on zaar to see if my own version is already posted I found a bunch of recipes using za'atar as a rub for fish or meat. So I decided to give this a try - and WOW! This is so simple, and yet so good! Made it with my za'atar mix which I just posted and enjoyed it very much! Thanks for this great idea!

[limeleaf]

I really liked this recipe. I did change the oil, reducing it to about 2 tablespoons, and cooked it for about 35 minutes only. (I used bone in skin on chicken breasts) I gave it 4 stars because I would never use that much oil, but it is a recipe that I will make again. Thanks for posting.