jean-paul,
The thyme of southern Spain is really different from that in northern Europe, sticky with oils. On a Saturday in Guadix we used to buy a spit roasted chicken stuffed with this thyme and pieces of lemon, gives a wonderful taste to the chicken.
Try and find some 'lemon thyme' that is what I use to stuff chickens with lemon pieces. Easy to grow and as always there is no substitute for freshly picked herbs or veg.
It's a bugger to separate the small leaves from the stalks but it transforms a bechamel sauce, great with salmon and white fish.
The thyme of southern Spain is really different from that in northern Europe, sticky with oils. On a Saturday in Guadix we used to buy a spit roasted chicken stuffed with this thyme and pieces of lemon, gives a wonderful taste to the chicken.
Try and find some 'lemon thyme' that is what I use to stuff chickens with lemon pieces. Easy to grow and as always there is no substitute for freshly picked herbs or veg.
It's a bugger to separate the small leaves from the stalks but it transforms a bechamel sauce, great with salmon and white fish.
This page Za'atar - Wikipedia contains quite a bit of info re: za'atar as an herb and as a mixture/condiment. Interesting stuff.
Jean-Paul:
Since I have been dipping my toes into Syrian food recently, let me share a recipe. It does not include za'atar but would be good with some sprinkled on it.
8 large chicken thighs with skin and bones, or a whole chicken cut into 8 pieces
3 tbsp (45ml) olive oil
3 tbsp (45ml) pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp (15ml) tomato puree
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) ground allspice (piment de Jamaique)
2 tsp (10ml) red chili flakes (ideally Aleppo pepper)
1 tsp (5ml) sumac
2 large garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
salt and black pepper
Stir together all the marinade ingredients. Put chicken in a large bowl and pour over the marinade along with 1.5 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix well and massage with your hands to work the marinade into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or over night.
Let the chicken come to room temperature, place on a baking tray and roast in preheated oven (200C/fan 180C/gas 6) and roast for about 35 minutes or until juices run clear. Alternatively grill over coals, turning a couple of times. Serve with rice and salad. I prefer it cooked over coals, and I think a good sprinkle of za'atar near the end would be nice, though I haven't tried that. It is delicious. The place where you bought red thyme almost certainly also has pomegranate molasses and sumac.
Since I have been dipping my toes into Syrian food recently, let me share a recipe. It does not include za'atar but would be good with some sprinkled on it.
8 large chicken thighs with skin and bones, or a whole chicken cut into 8 pieces
3 tbsp (45ml) olive oil
3 tbsp (45ml) pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp (15ml) tomato puree
1/2 tsp (2.5ml) ground allspice (piment de Jamaique)
2 tsp (10ml) red chili flakes (ideally Aleppo pepper)
1 tsp (5ml) sumac
2 large garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
salt and black pepper
Stir together all the marinade ingredients. Put chicken in a large bowl and pour over the marinade along with 1.5 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Mix well and massage with your hands to work the marinade into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or over night.
Let the chicken come to room temperature, place on a baking tray and roast in preheated oven (200C/fan 180C/gas 6) and roast for about 35 minutes or until juices run clear. Alternatively grill over coals, turning a couple of times. Serve with rice and salad. I prefer it cooked over coals, and I think a good sprinkle of za'atar near the end would be nice, though I haven't tried that. It is delicious. The place where you bought red thyme almost certainly also has pomegranate molasses and sumac.
One of the plusses of so many immigrants from Muslim countries in Europe is that Europeans have come to know just how good so much food is in Muslim countries.
If I could make a time machine I would love to visit 10th century Al Andaluz. This was a great civilization which to the north were only Aryans and Celts who were primitive and backward in so many areas. The Arab and Jewish Semitic universities were 4 centuries ahead in everything and the cuisine was light years ahead in quality,diversity and importantly in nutritional value.
When I think how mothers used to use the taste bud killer stock cubes like Oxo, Bisto. Later came Knorr and Maggi, hardly any better.
Here in France I have been buying for years the Arab made stock cubes that are'nt loaded with salt - lamb/beef/chicken though can't find a vegetable stock cube.
Why is is that the only lamb soup I can find is the Moroccan - Chorba. I find a leg of lamb to be really good value - studded with rakes of garlic pieces - roasted lamb, then either cold with bubble and squeak or sliced as braised lamb in a nice tasty sauce with a dash of red wine.
What's left over is made into soup. The bones are sawed up and the bone jelly extracted. As always sliced onions and more garlic added, along with lamb stock cubes and at the death sliced potatoes. Absolutely delicious winter or summer but then I love soups and caldos. Any north African food shop will have these stock cubes.
And then there's Pilau Rice.
If I could make a time machine I would love to visit 10th century Al Andaluz. This was a great civilization which to the north were only Aryans and Celts who were primitive and backward in so many areas. The Arab and Jewish Semitic universities were 4 centuries ahead in everything and the cuisine was light years ahead in quality,diversity and importantly in nutritional value.
When I think how mothers used to use the taste bud killer stock cubes like Oxo, Bisto. Later came Knorr and Maggi, hardly any better.
Here in France I have been buying for years the Arab made stock cubes that are'nt loaded with salt - lamb/beef/chicken though can't find a vegetable stock cube.
Why is is that the only lamb soup I can find is the Moroccan - Chorba. I find a leg of lamb to be really good value - studded with rakes of garlic pieces - roasted lamb, then either cold with bubble and squeak or sliced as braised lamb in a nice tasty sauce with a dash of red wine.
What's left over is made into soup. The bones are sawed up and the bone jelly extracted. As always sliced onions and more garlic added, along with lamb stock cubes and at the death sliced potatoes. Absolutely delicious winter or summer but then I love soups and caldos. Any north African food shop will have these stock cubes.
And then there's Pilau Rice.
nezbleu,
can you buy haute cuisse de poulet. Probably our favourite cut of chicken, so tasty and here very cheap.
Pollo asado - chicken casserole, nothing could be simpler. 2 cuisse per person. Use a Dutch oven/ cast iron pot. Add a little olive oil to brown the chicken, remove and add rakes of onion and garlic, soften then add boiling water with added Arab chicken stock cube and one or two bay leaves and simmer gently for at least 3 hours. Wonderful flavour and taste served with steamed potatoes, mushrooms or cauliflower florets and at the death add chopped mint to the potatoes - winter or summer food.
can you buy haute cuisse de poulet. Probably our favourite cut of chicken, so tasty and here very cheap.
Pollo asado - chicken casserole, nothing could be simpler. 2 cuisse per person. Use a Dutch oven/ cast iron pot. Add a little olive oil to brown the chicken, remove and add rakes of onion and garlic, soften then add boiling water with added Arab chicken stock cube and one or two bay leaves and simmer gently for at least 3 hours. Wonderful flavour and taste served with steamed potatoes, mushrooms or cauliflower florets and at the death add chopped mint to the potatoes - winter or summer food.
@nezbleu: with zaatar, sumac and lemon, this recipe is really nice; I had something very similar during a short stay in Palestine : Poulet roti au sumac, zaatar et citron – Une aiguille dans l'potage (recipe is in French, nothing a deepl or google translate can't fix though).
Chicken thighs, yes quite common, either with skin and bone attached or skinless/boneless. They used to be cheap, but have been getting more expensive, I guess people realized that skinless boneless chicken breast is also flavorless.
nez bleu,
could'nt agree more about chicken breasts, bizarrely in Spain chicken wings are quite expensive. After more than a year dates are again available that are juicy instead of dry and shrivelled - climate change, what climate change!
Dates - lots of fibre and taste,, great as an additive to a sauce for canard/duck, pork, beef almost anything. I stopped taking a packet into the lounge at night - too easy to eat the bloody lot. On one cycle camping trip in France I saw some lovely juicy prunes in a super market, could'nt resist eating most of them - for two days I had to keep looking for somewhere to crap - quickly. Be sure your sins will find you out.
Jean-Paul - there's a very good reason that religion and politics are a no-no on all sensible i/net sites.
could'nt agree more about chicken breasts, bizarrely in Spain chicken wings are quite expensive. After more than a year dates are again available that are juicy instead of dry and shrivelled - climate change, what climate change!
Dates - lots of fibre and taste,, great as an additive to a sauce for canard/duck, pork, beef almost anything. I stopped taking a packet into the lounge at night - too easy to eat the bloody lot. On one cycle camping trip in France I saw some lovely juicy prunes in a super market, could'nt resist eating most of them - for two days I had to keep looking for somewhere to crap - quickly. Be sure your sins will find you out.
Jean-Paul - there's a very good reason that religion and politics are a no-no on all sensible i/net sites.
Don't eat cicadas if you're allergic to shellfish.
Eating cicadas could be dangerous if you have a seafood allergy: FDA
FDA says to avoid eating cicadas 'if you're allergic to seafood' - CNN
Eating cicadas could be dangerous if you have a seafood allergy: FDA
FDA says to avoid eating cicadas 'if you're allergic to seafood' - CNN
And the latter can be massaged into steaks, then marinated and grilled. Very nice way.
How true
I learned about leaving the skin and bone on for flavour. I also learned about peeling the skin, adding a masala and pulling the skin back over to retain it. I also learned that cooking it for less time was another critical factor. Once the juice is gone so is the flavour and wonderful texture. I didn't used to like chicken breast either but now I welcome it.
Oh yes, here, that was due to the trendy young urban professional people colloquially known as 'Yuppies'. After work, they attended their local water holes and would order plate after plate for appys. My Mother used to get a bag for free when ordering 'real meat' from the butcher.
