Celebrate Good Times with Edible Westside

My recipe in print!

2013 is starting off with a bang! I just got word from the fabulous magazine, Edible Westside, that one of my recipes won their most recent spice blend challenge. Woohoo! I state this with total excitement because it’s the first cooking contest I’ve walked away from victorious and because it has been printed in a magazine that I revere highly. Edible Westside is a fabulous magazine dedicated to farm-fresh recipes and eating locally. It highlights the communities and culture of food on the Westside and is a great resource for interesting recipes and well-written articles about sustainability and eating seasonally.

It felt so great to see my name in print and to share with a wider audience a delicious, unprocessed recipe. Especially because it was a recipe for chicken! At times, cooking chicken has fallen into the category of much more foe than friend, but this was a definite success. Friends, you can totally make this. It’s a simple roast chicken recipe, rubbed with fresh herbs, and filled with a through-the-moon stuffing. The contest was to create a recipe using za-atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend of sumac, sesame seeds, oregano, thyme, and fresh sea salt. I chose to incorporate the spice blend in the stuffing using a hearty loaf of country bread from the farmer’s market. It’s great to use a bread that’s crusty but still airy, that will do well to absorb the flavors of the spices and olive oil. For the chicken, I used a Mary’s pasture raised chicken.

For my L.A. readers, you can get a copy for free usually distributed at farmer’s markets and other natural, healthy grocers. Or, you can read the issue online at their site. Here are a few other awesome looking recipes from this issue that I just might have to try:

Grilled Lobster from Chef Ray Garcia of FIG Restaurant in Santa Monica

Tarragon Waffles with Stewed Blueberries from Edible Westside contributor Marissa Ferry

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary Blueberry Compote also from Edible Westside contributor Marissa Ferry

So, today I bring you a recipe for Roast Chicken with Za’atar Stuffing. It’s a winner, hee!

Roast Chicken with Za’atar Stuffing

Print recipe

Ingredients

1 4 pound organic chicken
1 1/2 cups crusty bread (diced)
6 tbsps Italian parsely (chopped)
1 tbsp garlic (minced)
1 head garlic (cloves separated and peeled)
5 tsps za'atar (1tsp each of sumac, sea salt, toasted sesame seeds, fresh minced thyme, fresh minced oregano)
1 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup olive oil (plus more for drizzling on chicken)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 2
Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Cut off the wings and place in the bottom of your roasting pan.
Step 3
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix the bread, lemon zest, za'atar, a quarter cup of olive oil, and half of the parsley. Make sure the olive oil and seasoning are evenly dispersed throughout the bread. Season with a bit of black pepper.
Step 4
Use salt and black pepper to season the cavity of the chicken and then fill the bird with the stuffing. Close the flap and tie the two legs together using kitchen string, and place the chicken on top of the wings.
Step 5
Pack the rest of the parsley on the bird and drizzle with olive oil (about two tablespoons).
Step 6
Roast for 20 minutes. Take out the bird and reduce the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the garlic cloves around the base of the chicken and put back in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. The chicken is done when juice from the leg runs clear.