Tavuk Izgara

That's what we had for dinner tonight. Here's the link to the original recipe from Whole Foods. Tavuk Izgara is a Turkish dish, but it's basically another variation of my favorite yogurt-marinated chicken. This sort of marinating really helps produce a juicy dish and keeps the chicken from drying out.

And here's my modified version:

• 8 chicken thighs
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 yellow onion, grated
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• juice of 2 lemons, plus the shredded rinds
  
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
  
• salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Mix together the yogurt, onion, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Put chicken thighs in a bowl and add marinade. Toss to coat each piece completely. Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight or at least 8–10 hours.

When ready, preheat your oven and add the chicken to a 13x9 pan. Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so (the easiest thing to do is to use a meat thermometer - poultry is finished at 165 degrees). At that point, turn the oven up to broil and broil for a few minutes to get some color on the chicken (it's very white otherwise). Serve with pilaf and your choice of vegetable. The Whole Foods Recipe calls for grilling and I am sure that is the best way to cook it. But, I wanted to stay inside.

It's very tangy and delicious. My kids love lemon. The littlest one picked out all the onions, but they both gave this dinner a big thumb's up.

And while I've been writing this, they're playing monopoly as we wait for the pineapple sorbet to chill. Here's that recipe:

• 1 whole pineapple
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup simple syrup

Peel and core one ripe pineapple. Do it inside a bowl so that you can catch the juice. Shred the flesh until it's in small pieces. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and let sit...the sugar will draw out more juice. If you don't have any on hand, make a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, heated until the sugar dissolves) and let it cool.

When it's time to make the sorbet, add the pineapple pieces and the syrup to the ice cream maker. Follow manufacturer's instructions to freeze (mine takes about 20 minutes).


Honestly, this is a simple and delicious desert. Very pleasing on the palate; very easy to make. This got a big thumbs up from everyone.