The Avengers
Steve Rogers: “We won.”
Tony Stark: “Alright. Hey. Alright. Good job, guys. Let’s just not come in tomorrow. Let’s just take a day. Have you ever tried shawarma? There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don’t know what it is, but I wanna try it.”
Fans of the Marvel movie franchise know that the excitement of seeing our favorite comic book characters on the big screen for 2 hours isn’t enough. Don’t get me wrong, it is truly spectacular, but there is equal excitement over what happens at the end of the film. Not just the end, beyond that, past the credits. We know that there is an extra 30 seconds of awesomeness and we refuse to leave until we’ve seen it. We delay the theater employees from cleaning up our spilled popcorn because we aren’t willing to miss this small glimpse into the future, this hint at what lies ahead in the Marvel Universe.
After Iron Man 2 we saw Coulson telling Nick Fury that he found it, the “it” being Thor’s hammer.
We squealed with joy knowing we’d soon see Thor!
At the end Captain America, the Winter Soldier we saw two prison cells and our first glimpse of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.
Excitement was overwhelming at the thought of new characters coming!
And the post credits of the Avengers we saw them eating Shawarma.
Um, Ok, so its not what we were expecting, but it was still great! And quite frankly we started a shawarma revolution after that.
What is shawarma? It’s an arab meat preparation where chicken (or lamb or beef, or a combination) is layered on a large spit and slowly roasted for hours. The meat is then shaved for serving, and usually eaten in a pita, or wrap, with tahini sauce, hummus, tomatoes and pickles.
What it is, is delicious!
And In honor of the new Avengers movie coming out, I have made shawarma. While it may not be exactly like the kind that’s served at the restaurants, it’s a flavorful at home alternative.
Shawarma
Makes about 6 pita pockets
Ingredients:
- 2 .5 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 package of pita pockets
- Optional toppings – tomato slices, baby gherkin pickles, tahini sauce, hummus
The day before:
- Start by making the marinade – in a large bowl combine oil and spices, mix well.
- Add chicken and toss to coat evenly.
- Cover well with plastic wrap, or transfer to an air tight container and refrigerate over night
When you’re ready to bake:
- Preheat oven to 425
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a cooling rack on top.
- Spray generously with cooking spray
- Set the marinated chicken on the cooling rack
- Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, flip chicken pieces over and bake for another 15 minutes. (or until no pink remains when you slice into the fattest piece)
- Fill pita pockets with 2 slices of tomatoes, sliced shawarma chicken, and drizzle with tahini sauce.
- Serve with pita chips, hummus and pickles.
- 2 .5 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 package of pita pockets
- Optional toppings – tomato slices, baby gherkin pickles, tahini sauce, hummus
- Start by making the marinade – in a large bowl combine oil and spices, mix well.
- Add chicken and toss to coat evenly.
- Cover well with plastic wrap, or transfer to an air tight container and refrigerate over night
- Preheat oven to 425º
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set a cooling rack on top.
- Spray generously with cooking spray
- Set the marinated chicken on the cooling rack
- Bake at 425º for 20 minutes, flip chicken pieces over and bake for another 15 minutes. (or until no pink remains when you slice into the fattest piece)
- Fill pita pockets with 2 slices of tomatoes, sliced shawarma chicken, and drizzle with tahini sauce.
- Serve with pita chips, hummus and pickles.
