These days the popular Middle Eastern street food chicken shawarma seems to be everywhere. On the Island, State Road restaurant has a great one on their Monday night burger menu. And chef Naji Boustany at Catboat Coffee Co. makes a delicious chicken shawarma salad bowl. It seems everyone wants to make it at home now, too, and I’ve been waiting for my friend Eliza to send me her recipe for a chicken shawarma “feast” she’s been doing with her family. But typical me, I couldn’t wait.
So I've been working on my own (loose!) interpretation the past few weekends, and now my husband and I are hooked on these Spiced Grilled Chicken & Naan Wraps. This could be a Friday night staple, and it’s easily scalable for casual entertaining. And you can put your own twist on it.
I started with boneless chicken thighs and store-bought naan. (I like the Stonefire brand, particularly the roasted garlic one.) I used my favorite spice rub on the chicken before grilling. For the condiments, I included thinly sliced cucumbers and red onions, both fresh cherry tomatoes and roasted cherry tomatoes (for extra flavor), a pile of fresh mint and cilantro leaves, and some crisp lettuce.
Sauces for chicken shawarma can be tahini or yogurt based (or both), so I made an easy lemon tahini yogurt sauce (more like a spread) the first time we made this recipe. I’d thought to make raita or tzatziki or another cool yogurt-cucumber sauce (jumping continents!), but I am allergic to cucumbers so I kept them out of the sauce! But you could go for it. We even used some leftover Spicy Peanut Sauce on our wraps one night. Delicious, and with the spices and roasted tomatoes, more of a nod to African or Caribbean roti or other flatbread wraps. (FYI we found folding, rather than wrapping, easier!)
If you’re in the mood for grilled chicken but not wraps, here are some ideas from our archives: Grilled Spiced Chicken Brochettes, Barbecued Chicken Thighs with Spice Rub and Quick Sauce, Grilled Mayonnaise-Mustard Chicken, Lemony Caesar Salad with Grilled Croutons, Grilled Butterflied Spice-Rubbed Chicken.
I stopped at Mermaid Farm yesterday for feta. Honestly, I love the Mermaid Farm vibe; I feel as relaxed as a mermaid when I’m there. And only Caitlin Jones would think to sell tiny plant plugs for 50 cents a piece straight out of the cell-pack. I bought six little parsley plugs because I forgot to seed parsley and it takes months to get going.
If you’ve got feta and extra naan, hey, you could get a jump on summer and make Grilled Naan Pizzas, with cherry tomatoes and/or cucumbers and Whipped Lemon-Thyme Feta.
Or complete your week of Mediterranean-inspired cooking with Roasted Fish With Cherry Tomatoes and Olives or Cathy Walthers' Greek Salad with Grilled Lemony Squid.
Enjoy indulging yourself in the flavors of warm cuisines, and we'll see you on Instagram @cookthevineyard. Be sure to follow us if you haven't already.
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