Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Honey and Za'atar Glazed Chicken

Who could resist picking up a cookbook called Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Meditteranean? Written by Silvena Rowe it is filled with exotic Turkish and Syrian recipes. I took the book home from the library and prepared a wonderful chicken dish that evening using the fabulous middle eastern spice za'atar, which I happened to have in my cabinet. Try this. It is easy to prepare and has a haunting flavor.

Ms. Rowe serves the chicken with salsify and cauliflower puree but I didn't. Rice pilaf with chickpeas, apricots and sliced almonds worked well along with a salad.

1 small chicken, about 3 lbs.
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup Za'atar
3 tbl. peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. ground cumin
4 tbl. unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Put the chicken on a rack in a roasting pan and season inside and out. Combine the honey, za'atar, ginger and cumin in a bowl. Brush the mixture all over the chicken, drizzle with melted butter and add a little water to the pan. Roast for about 1 1/2 hours (basting at about 1 1/4 hours) or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thigh reads 170 degrees. Let stand for 20 minutes.

Serves 4

Note: I used about 2 tbl. of olive oil instead of 4 tbl. of butter.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I received Zaater seasoning as a gift from a friend who knows I love to eat it on pitas with oil. I knew nothing about the seasoning before she introduced me to it. I thought it might have other uses, so I typed in Zaater chicken and received this recipe. I was missing the honey and I boiled the chicken off the bone before roasting and added some potatoes, onion and garlic cloves. It was absolutely the best chicken I have ever eaten in my life. My husband and two young boys loved it! The Zaater & Ginger mix is what gave it all the flavor. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. Its nice to have something new on the dinner table that we all agree on.