Tonight's dinner

[alfredo]

Here's how I handled the roasting and broiling in the same oven. When the roasted veggies were on the edge of being done, I changed the oven to broil, moved them to the lower rack and put the Shawarma on the top rack. If you have a separate broiler you don't need to do this. Remember to leave the oven ajar. If you can find Shawarma seasoning you can leave out the Allspice, Cardomom, Cloves, and Nutmeg. These recipes were collected on the internet.

Shawarma

(Middle Eastern spiced meat sandwich) Or you can just have the meat on the side and use the tahini sauce as a dip.
Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS
AMOUNT
Lamb or beef, lean cut,
or chicken breast or thigh meat, boneless and skinless
sliced very thinly 2 lbs
Yogurt 1 cup
Vinegar or lemon juice 1/4 cup
Garlic minced 3-4 cloves
Allspice ground 1 tsp
Cardamom ground 1 tsp
Cloves ground 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg ground 1/2 tsp
Salt 2 tsp
Pepper, black 1 tsp
METHOD
Basic Steps:  Marinate → Broil or grill
1. Mix all the ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl and set aside to marinate for anywhere from 1 hour to overnight. Drain excess marinade.
2. To Broil: Heat an oven broiler to high. Spread the meat in an even, single layer in an oven-proof pan. Set 4-6 inches under the broiler flame and broil till cooked through, 5-8 minutes. Stir halfway through to cook evenly.
3. To Grill: Heat coals or set gas to high heat. Spread the meat in a grill basket and grill until cooked through, 5-8 minutes, turning occasionally.
4. Serve inside folded pita bread with your choice of garnishes (see variations).
VARIATIONS
• Condiments and Garnishes: Shawarma is commonly served with a tahini sauce, a yogurt sauce or garlic mayonnaise. Other garnishes include chopped tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, shredded lettuce, sliced red onion, pickles, mango pickle, hummus or even French fries.
• Gyros (Greece): Serve with tzatziki sauce.
• Döner Kebab (Turkey): Serve with cacik sauce (see tzatziki variations).
• Lavash bread can be used instead of pita. Roll all of the ingredients up in a piece of lavash like a burrito or egg roll to make a Middle Eastern wrap.
• Shawarma is sometimes made with a mixture of meats. There is even turkey shawarma. Goat meat shawarma is popular in Saudi Arabia.
• Vary the number and amount of spices to your own taste. Some recipes call for cinnamon to be added to the mix.
NOTES
• Shawarma is popular throughout the eastern Mediterranean and is sometimes call the Middle Eastern taco. It originated in northwestern Turkey as döner kebab but reached its current form and popularity with the Turkish population in Germany. The word shawarma is an approximation of the Turkish word for "roast". The sandwich is now found in a variety of forms around the world.
• The typical way shawarma is served is off a large cone of layered meat. The meat is roasted on a rotating skewer with radiant gas or electric heat. Pieces of meat are sliced off and served in a folded pita with garnishes and condiments.

Taratour
(Middle Eastern sesame sauce)
Yield: about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS
AMOUNT
Tahini 1/4 cup
Lemon juice 1/4 cup
Water 1/2 cup
Salt 1-2 tsp
METHOD
Basic Steps:  Mix
1. Mix all together till smooth.
VARIATIONS
Add more or less water depending on how thick you like the sauce. It is typically served somewhat thick in the Levant.
Add one or two cloves of minced garlic if you like.
NOTES
This is a favorite sauce in the Eastern Mediterranean to serve with shawarma, fish, falafel, kefta, or over vegetables.
Sometimes spelled taratoor.


OVEN ROASTED GARLIC POTATOES
 

3/4 lb. red potatoes
1 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
6 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp. dried rosemary crumbled

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut potatoes 1 1/2 inch wide wedges. Combine potatoes, garlic, oil and rosemary in 8 inch baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until potatoes are tender and crusty, cover in oven, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Serves 2, can be doubled or tripled.


Steamed Broccoli with lemon juice.

toasted Pita

Mint tea.

[hippywife]

1. Now that's what I call dinner!

I absolutely love Mediterranean food! :hi:

[alfredo]

2. It high in flavor and low in fat. I've been learning a few things from

a book on vegetarian dishes from the mideast and north Africa. Cumin and lemon juice is the key to heaven.

http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Vegetarian-Cooking-Middle-Africa/dp/1566563984

Youtube has some great cooking segments too.

Indian

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=indian+cooking&search=Search

Mideastern

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=mideastern+cooking&search=Search

African

http://youtube.com/results?search_query=african+cooking&search=Search

[KatyaR]

3. Man that sounds GOOD--

much better than my cheese pizza and peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream. I haven't had Shawarma in ages.

[alfredo]

4. The left overs were incredible. I make my own pizzas using

ready made crusts. I use sliced Roma tomatoes, white onion, Basil or oregano, garlic, Feta cheese, olive oil, a bit of salt and a lot of pepper.

[Gormy Cuss]

5. I love shwarma and tahini sauce...

If I hadn't found an excellent restaurant for these goodies I'd make it at home. I'll make the tahini sauce for kebabs -- thanks.

[alfredo]

6. The broiling made the kitchen nice and toasty.

We have couple Mideastern restaurants in town. there was an Ethiopian place in town. It was very good. I loved their salad rolls. It was a savory salad wrapped in injera.

I'm addicted to Doro Wat.