Western Living Magazine
Protected: Work where it feels like home, say goodbye to the commute
The Ultimate Home Design Guide: Top Designer Tips for Every Room
You’re Invited: WL Design Talks With Trish Knight and Nicole Varga
5 Incredible New Wineries Have Hit the Okanagan
The Grape Escape for Wine Enthusiasts
The Gin of the Summer (and Fall, Winter, Spring) Is on Sale
Dark Skies in Utah: Chasing Cosmic Connection on the Road
Cycling the Emerald Isle: A Windy Adventure on Ireland’s Greenway
Glamping Utah: Adventure Has Never Felt So Good
Trending Now: 10 New Furniture and Homewares for Fall 2023
Paint Trends 2024: No One Can Agree on the Colour of the Year
Discover California Closets – BC
Q&A: Meet the Texas-Based Contemporary Artist Dan Lam
5 Reasons to Enter the WL Design 25
Introducing Western Living’s 2023 Designers of the Year Award Winners
Winner, winner, chicken dinner.
Chicken Night just got interesting: bold tandoori seasoning, parchment-paper parcels and next-level schnitzel take the weeknight staple from plain-Jane protein to dinner-party power player.
Cooking en papillote is a technique in which food is wrapped in a parchment or foil parcel and baked. A star ingredient in this recipe is za’atar, a fragrant Middle Eastern spice blend generally consisting of thyme, sesame seeds and sumac.
Any extra za’atar is perfect for seasoning everything from vegetables to seafood to dips. For guaranteed oohs and aahs let diners cut open the parcels themselves, as half the fun is revealing the beautifully cooked contents at the table. (Tie them off with twine for added rustic charm.)
Take your roast chicken to another level with this recipe. If you have the time, allow the spice paste to marinate the chicken for anywhere from 1 to 24 hours. However, this family favourite roast is still delicious if cooked up right away. Flattening or spatchcocking a chicken is an easy technique to master and cuts the cooking time, which means dinner can hit the table faster. Great additions for rounding out the meal include roasted vegetables and some warm naan.
This dish perfectly illustrates how two different recipes can deliciously be more than the sum of their parts. While the sticky peanut chicken wings and fresh noodle salad are good separately, serving them together makes for a wonderfully tasty experience. If you can, try to source whole chicken wings. This will maximize the amount of savoury, peanuty glaze and crispy chicken skin that ends up on your plate.
A homemade spice rub is a wonderful way to jazz up a simple chicken breast. In this cross cultural mash-up we use dukkah, an Egyptian nut and spice blend. You might be able to source it in gourmet grocery stores, but it’s just as easy to make at home.
Plus, you can customize it using different nuts (pistachios work well) or spices (fennel seeds and hot pepper flakes are great additions) as you like. Extra dukkah is delicious as a dip. Simply dip bread or vegetables in some extra-virgin olive oil or yogurt before rolling in dukkah and enjoying.
Are you over 18 years of age?