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Za'atar Chicken with Fattoush

Perfectly crusted roast chicken pieces and a Middle Eastern salad both deeply spiced with za'atar and sumac.  Great all year round :)

Course Main Course
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 3 hours
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup olive oil it doesn't need to be extra virgin
  • 1 chicken (3.5 lb) cut into 8 pieces. Alternately, you can use legs, thighs, drumsticks etc.
  • 2 tbsp za'atar
  • kosher salt
  • 2 pita bread
  • 3 fat scallions halved and sliced
  • 1/4 med red onion thinly sliced or diced
  • 1 cucumber cut into quarter moons
  • 3 roma tomatoes seeded and diced (or 2 cups of halved cherry tomatoes)
  • bunch of flat leaf parsley chopped
  • bunch of mint chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 6-8 tbsp EV olive oil
  • juice of one lemon
  • maldon or kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp sumac or more to taste, it has a bright lemony presence

Instructions

  1. CHICKEN

    Pour the oil into a large roasting pan, big enough to hold all the chicken pieces in a single layer. Add the chicken, rubbing the oil into all the nooks and crannies.

  2. Sprinkle the za'atar over the chicken and rub it into the oily skin. Cover with cling film. Leave the meat to marinate for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. Or you can do it all in a plastic freezer bag, sealing it well and storing it in the fridge, even overnight.

  3. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 425F.

    Transfer the pan (minus the cling film) making sure that all the skin sides are up in the roasting pan (or pour out from the plastic freezer bag into a roasting pan).

  4. Roast the chicken pieces for about 45 minutes, or slightly longer, so that they are well cooked, the skins being burnished to the perfect burnt umber. Remove from the oven and pile onto a platter.

    Sprinkle with sea salt and a bit more sumac if desired.

  5. FATTOUSH

    When the chicken is almost finished roasting in the oven, you can start the fattoush.

    Cut the pita breads open, so that you have 4 very thin rounds. Lay them on a baking sheet. Add the baking sheet to another rack in the oven to post up for about 5 minutes (check to make sure they don't brown too much)

    Remove them to cool.

  6. In a bowl, combine the scallions, cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, and mint, as well as the minced garlic. Using a pair of kitchen scissors, cut the pita into bite sized pieces (rough triangles) of the bowl of the salad. Save a few pieces to garnish the salad with at the end.

  7. Toss the salad together. Then dress it with the olive oil and lemon juice. Toss gently. Add some salt and taste. Adjust the olive oil or lemon to your liking.

    Add remaining pita pieces, and sprinkle the lovely dark sumac over it all.

    Serve with the chicken.

Recipe Notes

In the summer (or any time of the year if you have access to a grill) feel free to grill the chicken pieces. Grill on medium low to ensure that they are cooked through before becoming charred on the outside.
For the fattoush, I have often added diced red onion in addition to the scallions. Jim loves red onion, so why not!?
Grilled or lemon roasted potatoes would be fantastic as an accompaniment.
Adapted from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson