Wild Firebrand

However you spell it — it’s delicious!!

Back in the mid 90s, when Dad and I were at Trinity (sleeping in a closet in your aunt’s apartment), I was CRAVING shawarma, and tabbouleh, and other tastes from the Middle East where your grandparents were living at the time. San Antonio was GREAT for Steak, Tex-Mex, or other cuisines, but (at the time), the only place you could get hummus was in a health food store and there wasn’t enough tahini, garlic, or olive oil, ya know?!?!

So, your dad (the most indulgent man on the planet) offered to drive me to HOUSTON to go to Sammi’s Lebanese restaurant to get lamb and chicken shawarma. Off the spit. Mezze style with all the small plates and everything. Back then, he only ate Steak & Potatoes so he didn’t eat ANY of the massive amount of food I bought to bring back to San Antonio with me so I could dine for days on my ‘home’ food. We stopped at McD’s on the way back to SATX, but I was happy because my boyfriend (at the time) loved me enough to drive me to and from Houston for dinner — since I was homesick.

You all know how the story ends — while I was in class the next week, your dad ate all my shawarma — and when I got back to the apartment, found it all gone, and asked him what happened, he said, “That’s good stuff.” He took me back to Houston the following weekend and THIS TIME, he ordered enough for him too.

Anyway, after that I figured I should probably learn how to make decent-enough shawarma at home which came in handy in a clutch — especially when we moved to Florida!

So, here you go, my loves — Kitchen Chicken Shawarma — good enough until you can get to a place that makes it better.

Start with chicken thighs.

Then head to the spice rack:

Any combination of these will work — and don’t bother measuring — over the years, you’ll learn what ratios you like of each — start with paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, and salt/pepper. Add or subtract from there.

Mix it all in a mortar and pestle the flavor out of it.

Put the chicken thighs and the spices in a bag and coat the meat with the spice combo. AND THEN, put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight…

Take it out a couple of hours later — or the next day — and prepare to roast it!

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees — and add chicken stock to the pan. That’ll steam up in the oven and give ya nice and juicy meat.

Now, naturally — grilling is best because you get that lovely smoke, but this is KITCHEN Chicken Shawarma bc its summer and hot outside so into the oven they go. For 25 minutes on one side and them flip ’em over and do it again for another 25 minutes.

TASTY! Now, as always — let them rest. Let the meat reabsorb their juices.

Move the meat to a cutting board — but save the liquid gold (stock) from the bottom of the pan and scrape off all the sticky brown bits into a jar to use as chicken broth for future recipes like soup or rice, or gumbo or something…YUM! Then, chop that chicken.

That’s the stuff — you know we eat that in a pita with hummus, and tabbouleh, and yogurt with cucumbers, and pickled turnips, and parsley — SO GOOD!!!!

May this meal bring those you love together to share in joyous laughter, happy memories, party stories, and other lies. My loves — I’m so proud to be in your lives and part of your world……cue Taryn! MWAH! Yo’ mamma.