Category: Food and Recipes

Saturday was a fun and successful day for me at the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. I got to catch up with some vendors I haven’t seen forever, look around to see what new things are available at the market, and I got to meet a lot of customers. Marty said most of the customers we had in the morning were new to the market, so we both got to meet them.

The highlight of our day was when a young couple came to buy spatzle. They came the week before, and Marty gave the whole spatzle spiel. Besides getting more spatzle, they wanted to show us a video of their daughter; I’m guessing about 15 months old trying the spatzle for the first time. She watched her parents show us the video, I gave her a wink and a smile behind my mask, and she lit up. In the video, sitting in her highchair, she was eating her spatzle from a bowl, using a fork better than some adults. Then she said how much she like it. It was one of those moments that keeps us connected to our customers; it keeps us pumped up that so many people love our product. The ultimate testament to “Spreading the Spatzle Love!”

When they went into their daughter’s room that morning when she woke up, the young couple said that she must have known it was Saturday since both of them were there. The first words out of her mouth were, “Go get more spatzle today?” I can’t even put into words how special this makes us feel.❤️

Another great moment was when a group of big, tall, polite guys from RPI College came back to thank Marty for hooking them up with spatzle the week before. These guys are all brilliant geniuses majoring in Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Space Engineering. They come to the farmers market to buy food to cook for themselves. RPI is within walking distance of the farmer’s market in Troy.

They all kept saying how amazing the spatzle was with some pesto they got from another vendor called Buddhapesto. Their pesto and our spatzle is a match made in heaven. The guys were walking around the market picking out dinner. Suddenly a cute blonde guy walked up to our table, smiling ear to ear. He held up a bag of a whole chicken. That’s what he picked to make for dinner. The rest of them were looking to see what they were going to get to make.

How great is this? These guys were all clean-cut, preppy college sophomores, and the fact that they cooked for themselves with local and fresh ingredients made me want to hug each of them. Of course because of covid I couldn’t. They were all sad that they would go back home in 2 weeks and miss the market and our spatzle. They all totally reminded me of my son Sam who grocery shops, picks up what’s on sale, and makes real dinners for himself or friends every night.

Another customer group came by and told us with somber faces that the vendor that sells Swedish Meatballs were sold out already. They were planning on the meatballs with our spatzle for dinner. Two of the people didn’t cook and were beside themselves with what to do. We gave them a couple of suggestions, let them take photos of our recipes on our display table, and sent them away with enough encouragement to handle Saturday night dinner.

They were not even 2 feet from our tent when I said to myself, “Dammit, now I have to have Swedish Meatballs!” It’s all I’ve been thinking about since Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I pulled out a package of meatball mix from the freezer and planned to make them.

Mid-day, I got a text from our friend Martin who lives across the street. Would we like to come for dinner? When a chef invites you for dinner, you don’t decline. When a friend is a widow and only eats real meals when he cooks for someone else, we would never decline. So I threw the meatball mix into the fridge for the next day; we enjoyed T-bone steaks with potatoes and asparagus. The highlight of the night was watching Martin make a Zabaglione with fresh berries. It was delicious, and I also love watching how 3 ingredients…egg yolks, sugar, and marsala wine can be whipped into a light Italian custard—a home run of a dessert that I have yet to make myself.

I love, love, love Swedish Meatballs! My Swedish Meatball recipe is from my 1950s Betty Crocker Cookbook. It’s a recipe I don’t screw around with, except instead of adding boiling water, I add beef stock. Swedish Meatballs always remind me of the store Ikea. You can smell the Swedish Meatballs as soon as you set foot on the crazy maze that leads you through the gigantic store. Ikea has a cafeteria in the store and has other Swedish food on the menu. The last time we were there, Swedish food items were available frozen to take home and enjoy. Since we had to go gluten-free and there aren’t any Ikeas in our area, I haven’t had their meatballs in over 25 years.

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Now it’s after 8;30 pm, and I am waiting for Marty to get back from a rescue squad call. We were going to eat at 6:30 pm, but tonight he is on call. I have everything made and just have to reheat everything. I am sipping a gorgeous Rose wine while I am typing this blog post. On the menu tonight…Swedish Meatballs, Cauliflower Mash, and Broccoli Au’Gratin. I can’t wait to dig in!

*** We finally had dinner at 9 pm. It was exactly what I was craving, try the Betty Crocker recipe (photo above) if you are now craving Swedish Meatballs too. 😉

Last week Marty came home from picking up our King Dairy milk order for the business from one of our wholesale customers, The Market Wagon. He told me that Steve, the owner of The Market Wagon, wanted me to try a bottle of lemonade from King Dairy.

Steve and I are both big lemon fans, it wasn’t tart enough for him, but he thought I would like it. King Dairy puts oranges in their lemonade which may have been why it wasn’t tart enough for Steve.

Steve was wrong about me liking it; I loved it! It had such a familiar taste to me that I couldn’t put my finger on it. 

Marty watched me drink the lemonade and told me there were oranges in it. Ah! That was it! It was like I jumped into a time capsule and went back to when I was 5 or 6 years old. 

My parents grew up in the Peterstown section of Elizabeth, NJ. I’ve written about Peterstown before writing about my favorite Italian restaurant Spiritos and their delicious ravioli. 

My father used to take me back to his childhood stomping grounds in Peterstown. My dad loved his sweets. He thought you should you should always eat dessert first. He would always check out the cakes and pies spinning around in the carousel in the front of the diner; he was gauging how much to order so he could save room for dessert. 😂

Strangely enough, my dad wasn’t an ice cream guy, but he loved Italian ice. He used to take me to an Italian ice stand in his old neighborhood called Caterina’s. Italian born and raised Caterina Di Cosmos version of granita.

My memories of Caterina’s was that it was a shack. An old Italian woman with black shoes sat on a chair and scooped her Italian ice into small paper cups.

There were only two flavors lemon and orange. My dad loved lemon and I loved orange. My dad loved coming here as a kid, we always ran into guys that he knew. They spoke a few words of neighborhood Italian to each other, everyone was Italian.

We would find a parking spot and walked to Caterina’s. We stood on line waiting our turn. 

I thought the Italian ices were in garbage cans when I was a kid, but after some research and the photo I found, I think they were wooden barrels. The photo above is EXACTLY how I remember it. Her husband Giovanni built the shack right next to their house for her and her Italian ice business.

After Caterina scooped our ices and my dad paid, we went to find a spot to eat our Italian Ice. Sometimes we sat on the curb or someone’s stoop. Many times we stood leaning against our car. The Italian ice was soft without any hard ice crystals; it was perfect.

My dad ate his fast; I methodically ate mine. I remember as I made my way through the cup of ice, taking a lick then squeezing the paper cup, pushing the ice up, making the cup skinnier and skinnier. The Italian ice had lemon and orange pits in it. My dad and I would see how far we could spit them. My dad never told me not to “play with my food” I could eat the Italian Ice however I wanted. 🙂

My favorite part was at the end, drinking the orange juice that melted in the bottom of the cup. My hands never got sticky, just very cold. 

Today, I went online and found Caterina’s, which is now called Di Cosmos Italian Ice, in Peterstown since 1915.  I read Di Cosmo’s history and how they are still in business in the same spot. The family still owns the business, which has been upgraded from the one I remember. The stand is located right next to the Di Cosmos home. Many generations have lived in Caterina & Giovanni’s home and carried on Caterina’s tradition.

I saw they celebrated their 100th anniversary back in 2015 and that they opened a second location. They still use the same recipe as the one I loved. They have added a couple more flavors; still, all-natural fruits are used and processed by hand. I’m guessing they don’t have anything like a bubblegum flavor like other Italian ice manufacturers. Thank goodness, poor Caterina would probably turn over in her grave. 

Isn’t it funny that one sip can transport someone back to a wonderful childhood memory? I wrote a whole blog post a few months back about my food memories; I never thought that a sip of lemonade would have the same time capsule effect. 

I cherish the memories I have with my dad and our food adventures. The next time I see Steve at the Market Wagon, I will share my memory with him and thank him for the lemonade.

You may have noticed that I haven’t written about food much in the last 3 weeks. The last two noteworthy meals I made were Eggplant Rollatini & Easter Brunch.

Since I joined Facebook back in 2009, I posted photos of my food, descriptions, lessons, and recipes. It gave people ideas of recipes to make or how to make them. When I didn’t post for a few days for one reason or another, I would get messages asking if I was ok. LOL

As I type this, I still crack up, just like when I read a comment I got from a guy I went to high school with; it was either Ray or his twin brother Randy. I think it was Ray, though. He wrote under one of my food posts, “Don’t you ever eat the same shit like the rest of us?” My reply was, “Yeah, but I don’t post it.” 😜

People would comment about how I could make a bowl of yogurt topped with Cheerios look good; I told them it was just the love I put in food and that I like plating it. One night, I posted a hot dog photo, beans right from the can, and tater tots on a paper plate. The comments were that it looked delicious and better than theirs, and they couldn’t believe I used a paper plate! 🤣

I haven’t made anything noteworthy lately since I’ve had terrible headaches, stress from my mother being in the hospital for 5 days (She’s ok), and I’ve been so tired. Today when I woke up, I felt my spark again. Finally, after a month, I didn’t want to nap and really wanted to cook. I didn’t make anything fancy; I made a pantry meal.

Pantry meals come in handy when I have nothing defrosted or ready to use. Tonight, I made Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce. I used a box of Barilla GF pasta, a can of chopped clams, olive oil, butter, a few cloves of garlic, dried oregano & parsley, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper, and a splash of wine. The first bottle I’ve opened since I don’t know when.

The meal took under 20 minutes and was really good. I made garlic cheese bread with a package of GF rolls we had sitting around. It did the trick and was tasty.

Having a stocked pantry is essential to pulling recipes right out of your ass at a moment’s notice. I always have in my dry pantry pasta, canned clams, tuna, different varieties of beans, crushed, diced & whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, Thai curry paste, coconut milk, olives, pasta, rice. You get the idea.

I always have in my fridge onions, garlic (not in the fridge), potatoes, heavy cream, parmesan and or pecorino romano cheese, different cheeses, plain yogurt for marinating meats, butter, eggs, tofu, and pickles. Of course, there is more, but those are the always-on-hand bunch.

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We usually eat dinner with candlelight and real napkins just because I like to, but for the last three weeks, it’s been paper napkins, paper plates, and food is just thrown together. That’s ok; I cooked a lot this winter as we all did; I needed a break, I guess, while I got my shit together. Soon, I will be marinating things, making dry rubs, grilling and making pizzas outside, plus a lot of beautiful salads with homemade dressings to share with everyone.

Sometimes, I do eat the same shit like everyone else Ray. ❤️

I’ve been wanted to make eggplant rollatini for almost 3 months. I wrote about how I was just about to make it back in February and didn’t because the gorgeous eggplant I had was rotten in the middle. Last night I finally made it, and Marty said it was better than my eggplant stackers. Wowzers! ☺️

I made my usual crispy breaded eggplant in the oven, except I cut the eggplant longways instead of into rounds. (You can find my crispy eggplant recipe if you use the search section on my page and type in Eggplant Parm Stackers you will find the blog post with the recipe) Please let me know if you can’t; I am so not a techie and need to know so we can fix it.

While they were baking, I made the filling. I put a 15 oz container of drained whole milk ricotta cheese in a bowl, a cup of shredded mozzarella, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 egg, 1 Tbsp refrigerator basil since I didn’t have any fresh on hand, a dash of garlic powder and kosher salt. I mixed everything well. 

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I removed the eggplant from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. I got out some marinara sauce that I made the day before, but if you want to use your favorite jarred sauce, go for it. 

In a baking dish, lightly cost the bottom with olive oil or pan spray. Add marinara sauce to cover the bottom of the baking dish. On the wider side of the eggplant, place 2 Tbsp and roll. Place seam side down in the sauced baking pan. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant. 

Top each roll with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the insides are hot and the cheese is bubbling and melted on top. 

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I served mine with a salad because it’s so satisfying it didn’t need a starchy side dish. This recipe is a keeper! Marty said he could eat it every other week; it was that good! We had the rest for lunch today, and they were even better than last night. 

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Right after I got my Moderna vaccine I got a headache and a sore arm. A normal side effect. The headache went away the next day. 

I’ve been getting bad headaches every couple of days ever since. I thought it was not wearing my glasses, so my mask didn’t fog up; I was dehydrated, hungry, or sinuses. I took Tylenol since it’s the only over-the-counter medication I can take. The Tylenol didn’t help at all. I used my Netti-pot for my sinuses, which didn’t help either. 

I’ve been going on with my life, business as usual with the headaches until Sunday early evening, the headache came on suddenly and strong. The worst one so far. It went all the way from over my eyes down the back of my head into my neck.

Today we were in production, and the headache started again and got bad quickly. My ah-duh alert went off…it’s my blood pressure. Or is it?

Marty is an advanced EMT, so he got his medical bag and took my bp, which was 177/110. I have high bp and take daily meds to keep it in check. Marty told me to call my cardiologist, who I haven’t needed to see for four years, and left a message. 

Within five minutes, a nurse who remembered me called me back. Since I haven’t been there for so long, I am considered a new patient even though I’ve been a patient since 2013.

She told me to get to my primary care doc or urgent care as soon as I could. With some luck, I was able to snag an appointment and had to be there in 20 minutes. 

My bp was lower 138/100, and the doctor gave me a thorough exam. We talked in length after the exam and decided this was a case of which came first…The chicken or the egg?

If my bp is high, it gives me these types of headaches; if the headache is from the covid shot, it may elevate my blood pressure.

I have to monitor my bp and go back Tuesday for a nurse to retake my bp. She prescribed me something for headaches to take at bedtime when needed. 

Just now, the cardiology office called and gave me an appointment for mid-May. I’m on a cancellation list, so I may get in quicker. In the meantime, I get my second Covid shot next Wednesday. I guess if I get more or worse headaches, it could be just a side effect. 

It’s unknown if a Moderna vaccine headache can last three weeks; it has been reported to last at least one week, the doctor told me. She suspected it might be the vaccine, but it’s hard to tell without any real data. I have been the small percentage of people who get certain side effects from different medications in the past. Plus, many medications give me headaches, so again it’s a possibility. 

This afternoon Marty retook my bp, and it was 144/102. I actually hope these headaches are just a side effect that will eventually go away. That’s easier than dealing with high blood pressure again. I’ve run the gamut of all possible bp meds,  so who knows what the next step would be. 

I was happy with the care and urgency I received from both doctor’s offices today and somewhat of a plan. For now, I’ll wait and see what came first…the chicken or the egg?

I skipped making a ham dinner and decided to go with Pork Saltimbocca with a Pan Sauce. I also made one of my spätzle recipes from our website, Spätzle with Asparagus, Lemon & Frizzled Prosciutto, finishing with Limoncello Tiramisu for dessert. 

I like to use similar ingredients when planning a meal. I needed prosciutto for the saltimbocca, making sense using the last couple of slices for the spätzle. 

I had extra lemons leftover from the tiramisu, so I used those in the spätzle dish as well. 

I always serve asparagus for Easter, and that is exactly how that spätzle recipe wrote itself a few Easters ago. It’s a favorite recipe of our customers, and many are making it today too! 

Saltimbocca means “to jump in the mouth” and is a dish originating in Rome. Thinly pounded pork, chicken, or veal is topped with prosciutto and sage leaves and served with a simple pan sauce. 

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I like to add a slice of provolone to my saltimbocca even though Romans would shake their heads at my addition. Tough shit guys, I like mine with cheese. LOL. 

I saw a recipe pop up last week for lemon tiramisu. I decided to one-up my version and use some homemade limoncello instead of lemonade to soak the ladyfingers in. 

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I was intimidated by the lemon curd that is folded into mascarpone cheese.  I never made lemon curd before, but it turned out to be easy. Much easier than making a custard or hollandaise sauce using a double boiler. 

Tiramisu isn’t a baked dessert; it’s assembled. I love traditional tiramisu and lemons so I was excited to make and taste this recipe. It was very lemony, and the limoncello-soaked ladyfingers were like doing a shot Noah said. I guess next time I may dilute the limoncello.

We had a really nice low-key Easter Dinner with Noah. It always makes my day when one of my boys says, “That was really good, mom.” ☺️ That’s another holiday in the books…Happy Easter! 

Holidays are different now, living my life on the journey. I used to get depressed that we don’t have extended family nearby to celebrate with.  I hate admitting how green with envy I was seeing everyone’s family pics on my Facebook newsfeed. 

I have a completely different outlook on everything now, including holidays. Instead of feeling lonely and focusing on what and who I didn’t have, I focus on what I do have. 

I live to eat and look forward to planning what I will be making for holiday meals. Just because there isn’t a slew of us doesn’t mean I can’t prepare what I want. 

People look at how much food I make for just 2, 3, or 4 of us and can’t understand why I go to all the effort. I am not talking about how much in terms of servings sizes, but the variety and preparation time for my meals.  Just because I’m only cooking for 2 or 3 of us, does that mean we aren’t worth it? 

I cut back on making elaborate meals when I was feeling lonely and sorry for myself; now I say the hell with it and make what I want. 

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Today we had brunch for two. I served traditional Pizzagaina, which is a savory meat and cheese pie. I also made Ina Garten’s Sour Cream Coffee Cake with a Maple Glaze. Deviled Eggs and Shrimp Cocktail balanced out the meal. 

The pizzagaina was a lot of work, but I love making it. I made mini pizzagaina this year and froze two out of the four to serve at another brunch. 

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I’ve gotten better at baking in the last few years and don’t get stressed out anymore. I watched Ina Garten on YouTube make her coffee cake, got out Nana’s tube pan, and jumped in. It took longer than I thought to prepare, then it had a 50 minute baking time. It had to cool for 30 minutes before I could carefully remove it from the pan and glaze. 

The deviled eggs I made a couple of days ago, along with the shrimp cocktail. I had eight shrimp leftover when I was making shrimp and grits, so I boiled them that night, and they were out of the way. 

While the coffee cake was in the oven, I prepped a few things for Easter dinner, which we will be having later with our oldest son Noah. The brunch? I couldn’t be more satisfied with how everything came out; it was totally worth the effort for just the two of us. 😊

This week I planned to make meals that I haven’t made before or haven’t been as successful as I expected. 

I made Chicken a l’Orange on Tuesday; it lived up to all the glory of an old-school dining favorite. I was more than pleased with how it turned out. True to form, I combined about 4 recipes since I wasn’t keen on all the recipes.

Instead of duck, I used bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. I didn’t want to use breasts because the dark thigh meat is more moist and flavorful. I made the orange sauce, again combining the 4 recipes, and I think it was just right.

I seared the chicken skin side down, getting a nice sear, and let it cook until the skin was golden brown. I flipped the thighs over and let them cook for a minute while I spooned half of the orange sauce on top of each thigh. I threw some orange segments and onion wedges into the pan and popped them into the oven. 

I baked the chicken for 20 minutes at 400-degrees, spooned the rest of the sauce on top, and let it bake for 5 more minutes. I took the internal temperatures of each thigh and pulled them out; they were already at 172-degrees. 

I wanted to serve a traditional side with the chicken a l’orange, wild rice. I could only find Uncle Ben’s seasoned wild rice, which isn’t gluten-free. At the second supermarket I tried, I found Chef’s Blend rice, white, wild, red rice, and quinoa. I made a spice blend similar to old Uncle Ben’s and gave it a shot. It was a home run!  No wonder why this meal was served at every dinner party in the 60s & 70s; it was easy and fancy.

Before I even cleared the dishes, I grabbed my pad and wrote the recipe. I froze the other half of the chicken to follow my recipe in a couple of weeks and test it out before I publish it. 

Wednesday, I made Mongolian Beef with Rice Noodles. I’ve never had luck with rice noodles. I always follow the instructions on the package, and they are always either too soggy, break apart, stick together, and are hard to mix in the wok with the protein, sauce, and veggies. 

I watched this program on Prime called Duncan’s Thai Kitchen, and I finally learned the secret to making and serving rice noodles. Only soak the rice noodles and do not boil at all. Just drain and add to wok with meat and sauce. No additional liquid is needed. 

When you serve the noodles, I always tried to get a mixture of the noodles, meat, and veggies in my tongs, but it never worked. This guy Duncan lifts the noodles high in the air and twirls them onto a plate, then tops the noodles with all the “goodies.” I was like, duh, what a fucking dummy I was because I never thought of doing this.

This will be a future post on how recipes leave out key instructions, tricks, or ingredients on purpose. I won’t get on a rant now, but celebrity chefs are especially notorious for this bull shit stunt. 

Thursday I made Shrimp and Grits with a twist. Instead of corn grits, I made cornbread waffles. I had to decide how I wanted to make the shrimp, the southern or creole way. My cheat was using Aldi gluten-free corn muffin mix. I had tons to do and didn’t want to fuss around with making a cornbread batter. 

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I went with a southern style: bacon, green onions, garlic, lemon juice, and butter. I added a sharp cheddar on top of the waffles since there is usually cheese in grits. 

It was different and good. Marty thought it needed some additional sauce. I agree; maybe something with more lemon next time? The last time I made cornbread waffles, I put sloppy joe on top, and that was so good; I can’t wait to make that again! It looks like the waffle idea will stick around for different dinners.

Sunday’s menu planning was successful. I have a few more dishes on the menu through Easter brunch, dinner, and dessert. I love planning and making holiday meals; it’s usually just 2 or 3 of us. I wish it would be all 4 of us, but Sam is stuck at school and won’t be home. I know he would love everything I will be serving. 😞

Every Good Friday, when I cooked at school, a teacher named Barb would come into my kitchen first thing in the morning and ask the same question. Before she would even ask, I would start laughing when she walked in. “Julz, tell me again how to make perfect hard-boiled eggs?”

Any type of egg to prepare perfectly is harder than people think; this is why it is a requirement for chefs to master. Hard-boiled eggs are easier than a French omelet or poached eggs, but there is a trick to get them right.

Ever notice when you peel and slice your hard-boiled eggs in half and the yolk has a green ring around the outside? You overcooked your eggs plain and simple.

I have used the same method of making eggs for over 30 years. I loved making hard-boiled eggs for our kids to dye when they were little. I also loved making deviled eggs with the dyed eggs. Even though they loved dying eggs, neither of my boys would EVER eat a hard-boiled egg or deviled egg, so they became part of our Easter brunch or dinner every year for everyone else to enjoy.

Having super yellow yolks in your hard-boiled eggs has lots of factors. Farm fresh or organic eggs have more yellow, sometimes orange yolks. Eggs from the grocery store are ones that I have always used; we use local eggs now with our spatzle business. Grocery store eggs still have yellow yolks, just not as vibrant as ones from the farm. Cooking time on any egg can also change the color of the cooked egg.

To make perfect hard-boiled eggs with a bright yellow yolk, place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water, two if you are boiling a lot of eggs. Put on high heat and bring to a rapid boil. A rapid boil is just that, not a simmer. As soon as you see large bubbles turn off the heat and put a lid on the pot. Set a timer for 15 minutes. As soon as the timer goes off, drain and run cold water on eggs to stop the cooking process. I let mine sit in cold water for 20 minutes or so. Eggs are now ready to be dyed, deviled, or stored in the refrigerator.

I learned about 6-minute eggs a couple of years ago watching the cooking show Top Chef. Everyone was making 6-minute eggs, and they were gorgeous, and the judges always liked them. I followed the same cooking method for my hard-boiled eggs and only let them sit covered pot for 6 minutes; drained, cooled, and peeled.

6-minute eggs are delicious; they are a tasty combination of a hard-boiled and a soft-boiled egg. You can pick it up and eat it, but the insides are softer. They have become a favorite at our house.

I love soft-boiled eggs as well, but I only had them when I was sick as a kid. Why? How come they were considered sick food? They are delicious with buttered toast dipped in soft eggs. Mmmmmm! Neither of my boys has ever had or asked for a soft-boiled egg.

You follow the same cooking method as above; just let the eggs sit in the pot covered for 3 minutes; drain and cool. Cut in half with a sharp knife and scoop out the insides into a bowl.

Today I made deviled eggs just for tradition’s sake. As soon as I put the eggs in the pot of water, I laughed out loud, thinking of Barb. I hope I could get this post out for anyone who is like Barb and can never get their hard-boiled eggs just right or forget how long to cook them for.

The first time I ever heard of Shawarma was four years ago in Montreal. We went for the weekend with Marty’s brother Peter. Peter and his wife love Montreal; he was the perfect tour guide. He was excited to take us to their favorite spots to experience all the cuisine Montreal had to offer. 

Schwarma is a Middle Eastern dish where thinly cut layers of meats are piled on a spit into a cone shape and roasted vertically. Thin pieces of schwarma are shaved off with a giant knife. The sliced meat is added to pita bread, then topped with a white yogurt sauce, cucumbers, and onions.

Peter took Marty and me all around Montreal; we had small bites at many different places over the course of the weekend. Shawarma was a late-night stop for us well after midnight while we were walking back to our hotel. I had chicken shawarma, and wow, the flavors were fantastic. The flavors were familiar to me; they reminded me of a Greek gyro and Indian food mixed.

I recently saw on my newsfeed recipes for easy chicken shawarma that you can make at home. Instead of roasting thin slices of meat on a spit, chicken, beef, or lamb, is marinated then roasted in the oven or grilled. It sounded easy enough for a weeknight dinner, especially if you marinate the meat the night before.

As I started looking through shawarma recipes online, I realized that shawarma is actually the method in which it’s cooked. The recipes that I was looking at mimicked the same spices and marinade, giving it that shawarma flavor even though it’s cooked conventionally at home.

I figured out why it reminded me of the Greek gyro and Indian food, the spices used in the marinade have so many Indian spices and flavors. Spices such as cumin, coriander, cardamom, turmeric, garlic, paprika, and cinnamon.

There were tons of chicken shawarma recipes, so I read through a bunch of them, finally picking one that I wanted to try. The only thing I had to change in the recipe was substituting lemon zest for sumac. Here’s the link to the recipe www.dimitrasdishes.com

Earlier in the week, we bought a large package of chicken tenders at Aldi. I never buy chicken tenders, but the 2-pound package was around five dollars, and I couldn’t pass it up. I knew that I wouldn’t be making breaded chicken tenders, but I would marinate and grill them.

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Before I went to bed, I mixed the spice blend and made the marinade, massaging it into the chicken. The chicken would have a long time to marinate before grilling the next day. There is no such thing as gluten-free pita bread where I live, so I looked up a couple of recipes and decided to try one.

I didn’t take any photos while making the pita bread because I honestly didn’t think the recipe was going to turn out. I had to adjust it by adding more flour. I covered it with a towel to rise, hoping it would come out. 

After we got home from making our deliveries in Albany, I checked on the pita dough; it did rise from the yeast. Next, I formed 8 little balls and rolled out eight discs. I followed the recipe, preheating the oven until it was scorching hot along with the baking sheet pans. I placed the pita desks on the hot trays and closed the oven quickly as the recipe said.

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It was a quick bake time of only 3 to 5 minutes, so I didn’t have to hold my breath too long to see if the pitas would puff up. Low and behold, they did! I was actually pretty shocked and pleased.

Next, I made a yogurt and tahini sauce to go on the Shawarma along, then diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce.

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Marty lit the ceramic grill; once it was hot, I threw on the chicken and carefully avoided overcooking it. I took temps, making sure the pieces were cooked, though. I think that the smell of the chicken schwarma permeated the entire neighborhood. It smelled so exotic and delicious.

For the assembly, I put yogurt sauce on the pita along with chicken and veggies. It was fantastic. The flavors really were like the ones that I experienced in Montreal. 😋

I wasn’t completely thrilled with the pita bread, so I will look for additional recipes and try to make them again. The chicken shawarma will definitely be on the menu often, especially in the summer. It would be delicious sliced up on salad with that yogurt tahini sauce as a dressing.

I urge you to check out the recipe link I used. If you aren’t gluten-free, by all means, buy yourself some pita bread and try it. Yum!