Oven shawarma, no rotisserie in sight

Name: Oven shawarma, no rotisserie in sight
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 2 lemons, juiced; ½ cup olive oil (plus 1 tbsp for the pan); 6 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tsp kosher salt; 2 tsp black pepper; 2 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp paprika; ½ tsp turmeric; a pinch of ground cinnamon and crushed red pepper, to taste; 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of any fat; 1 large red onion, quartered; 2 tbsp parsley, chopped

All the spice and crisp of the street cart, none of the six-foot spit.

At a Glance

Time

45 min, plus marinating

Serves

Story

Shawarma is a turning word. It comes through Turkish from çevirme, to turn, the same spinning vertical spit that gives us döner and gyro, all cousins cut from the same idea. There is no spit at home, so a hot oven and a hotter pan do the crisping the rotisserie edge used to.

Ingredients

2 lemonsjuiced
½ cup olive oilplus 1 tbsp for the pan
6 cloves garlicminced
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
½ tsp turmeric
a pinch of ground cinnamon and crushed red pepperto taste
2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighstrimmed of any fat
1 large red onionquartered
2 tbsp parsleychopped

Method

The cart version turns for hours against a flame. Yours will not, and it does not need to: a long soak in lemon and spice, then a blast in a hot oven, gets you the same burnished, cumin-dark edges. Thighs, not breasts, because dark meat laughs at this kind of heat where breast only dries out.

Whisk the lemon juice, half cup of oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper in a large bowl. The lemon is not just for flavor, its acid loosens the meat so it turns tender as it sits.
Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour, up to twelve. Longer is better.
Heat the oven to 425 and slick a sheet pan with the last tablespoon of oil. Toss the quartered onion into the bowl with the chicken, then spread everything across the pan in one layer.
Roast until browned, crisp at the edges and cooked through, 30 to 40 minutes. Rest 2 minutes, then slice into bits.
For real cart-stand crunch, run a pan screaming hot with a little oil and sear the sliced chicken until the edges curl tight. Scatter the parsley over.
Serve in warm pita with chopped cucumber and tomato, and a garlicky yogurt or loosened tahini to spoon over. That is your white sauce, and a better one.

If breasts are what you've got, they can be persuaded. Slice each one horizontally into two thin cutlets so they finish in the same neighborhood as the thighs, give them their own pan and slide them into the oven 15 minutes behind. Pull them at 160 and let them coast to 165 while they rest. The screaming pan in step 5 is not optional for breast, it is the only crust they're getting.

On the pass