Bringing Back a Little Sunshine the Foodie Way!

After that, she talked about the food. The spices. How they used to make lentils and rice on Thursday and fried fish on Friday and how they prepared sheets of tomato paste or apricots and left them to dry on the rooftops.

Jessica Soffer, taken from Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots

It’s about this time of the year, as the nights draw in and the days get shorter I wistfully think back to those long summer days in the garden or soaking up the sun on some far distant shore, inevitably there’s a little sigh in there however, the glass half full side of me cheers me up, reminding me that in just a few short months, the days will be getting longer once again. The other thing I tend to do to remind me of those longer days is I cook something “summery” so, today, in a nod to the summer I’m going to share with you, one of my favourite tastes of summer;

Barbecued Sumac Chicken

Now, don’t be put off by the barbecued bit, that’s just a nod to the flavour, you can of course barbeque this if you have one of those fancy pants outdoor kitchens with a big green egg, but in this recipe I’m going to show you how to do this in the oven!

If you love lemony chicken with crispy skin, honestly, you'll love this Barbecued Sumac Chicken recipe! The sumac in the marinade adds a delicious tangy flavour, while the garlic, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes do their own magic. At this time of the year, I like to serve this with one of the sprout recipes I wrote about a couple of years ago, you can find the post here.

This delicious dish can be prepared ahead of time, in fact, the longer you leave it marinating, the richer and deeper the flavours get! The recipe is very straightforward and uses really simple, honestly, if you consider yourself a novice in the kitchen, you’ll be over-qualified for this recipe! If you’re on a diet, fear not, this will fit into any low-carb, keto, or gluten-free lifestyle.

One of the best things about this recipe is you’ll make enough for leftovers and with some sliced red onions, some chopped parsley and some tomatoes, it makes the most wonderful pita or flat bread sandwiches!

As previously mentioned, you can simply barbeque this however, as we’re almost in October in the Northern hemisphere, I’m going to show you how to cook this in the oven.

Ingredients

2 tsp chilli flakes

1 1/2 tbsp sumac

1 tbsp ground black pepper, if you like it extra spicy, use cayenne!

2 tbsp dried thyme

1 tsp sea salt

8 boned free range chicken thighs

The juice of one lemon, you can use fresh or bottled

Four big cloves of garlic finely chopped

4 tbsp oil – I like to use extra virgin olive oil for the sumac marinade, however, you can use almost any other oil, especially avocado oil and vegetable oil.

Recipe

Mix together, the chilli flakes, sumac, black or cayenne pepper, thyme, sea salt, lemon juice, garlic and oil in a bowl big enough to add the chicken thighs and whisk well together.
Add the chicken to the bowl then pour the marinade over the chicken and mix with your hands to really infuse the seasoning into the chicken pieces.
Pour into a large plastic Ziplock bag. Marinate for at least four hours, or, preferably overnight.
Preheat your oven to 180°C Fan, 200°C Conventional or Gas Mark 4, (400°F).
Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy aluminium foil and lightly spray with cooking oil.
Place chicken thighs on the tray and bake on the middle rack for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is nice and crispy.

As mentioned earlier, I like to serve this with pan fried sprouts with chorizo and almonds however, it’s lovely with most things, if you want to remain Middle Eastern, use vermicelli rice or tabouli, if not, a simple potato salad or smoked corn on the cob go nicely! The one thing that is essential though is a nice yogurt dressing, for that simply combine; 100ml natural yogurt, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, the juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp dill and 1/2 clove garlic, crushed – simples!

What’s on this week?