Every time I eat Middle Eastern food, I wonder why I ever eat anything else. (To be fair, this also happens with Vietnamese, French, and Italian food—but let’s stay focused, here.)

Food from the Levant is fragrant with my favorite spices: cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon. It is loaded with bright, fresh veg, including my beloved summer tomatoes. The meats are well-seasoned and juicy. Eggplant grilled and charred in various ways plays a starring role. Pitas can serve as a vehicle for anything and everything. It has hummus.

For some reason, however, none of these things registered when, over the course of two years, my mom told me, repeatedly, that I should make the chicken schwarma recipe she had emailed me. During this time, I whirred up my own hummus, fawned over a roasted eggplant recipe, and queued up for L’As du Fallafel in Paris.

What was I thinking?It turns out, Mom is always right. This recipe is brilliant. It has only four steps: make marinade, wait for chicken to marinate while you are at work, chop onion, place chicken and onion on pan and in oven. Thirty-ish minutes later, out comes the most juicy, wonderfully spiced chicken that has come out of your kitchen (or mine) in a long time.

Plus, this recipe is ridiculously versatile. Add chopped carrots to the pan (as I did) to make it a full meal. Steam a bit of couscous or pick up hot pita (or naan, if you live closer to an Indian joint) on your way home if you want to add a starch.

But you could just as easily turn this into a dinner party: make the chicken, pick up some pitas, and serve with a chopped tomato and cucumber salad, hummus, and some yogurt sauce (just cut Greek yogurt with lemon juice and olive oil, adding garlic if you wish). [In fact: filing this idea away for my first summer dinner party.]

Don’t do as I did and wait two years before trying this recipe. Make it this week!

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Previously:
One year ago: Kale Salad with Farro, Parmesean, Pine Nuts, and Dried Fruit (this is a desert-island recipe)
Two years ago: Yam and Wild Rice Salad with Lime-Chili Vinaigrette (takeaways: yams and lime are good together; and, two years ago, I didn’t know how to take pictures of food)

And for my Australians…
Six months ago: Ratatouille
One and a half years ago: Squash Blossom Strozzapreti (again with the food photography issues, but: great pictures of Puglia)

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Criminally Easy Chicken Shawarma

Adapted only slightly from the New York Times
Serves 4 to 6

Note: this recipe requires at least one hour–but up to 12 hours–of marinating time. I threw together the marinade the night before, plopped the chicken in the marinade in the next morning before leaving for work, and then put the chicken in the oven when I got home in the evening.

Ingredients

2 lemons, juiced
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (120mL) olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
A pinch ground cinnamon
Small pinch red pepper flakes
2 pounds (900g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 large red onion, peeled and cut into six wedges
4 big carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces (optional; for other serving suggestions, see recipe headnote)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

Combine the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper flakes in a large bowl, then whisk to combine. Add the chicken and toss well to coat. Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.

When ready to cook, heat oven to 425F (218C). Use the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to grease a rimmed sheet pan, or line the pan with parchment (a.k.a. baking) paper. Add the onion (cut into wedges) and carrots (if using) to the chicken and marinade, and toss once to combine. Remove the chicken and onion from the marinade, and place on the pan, spreading everything evenly across it so that things fit roughly in a single layer.

Put the chicken in the oven and roast until it is browned, crisp at the edges and cooked through, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to rest 2 minutes, scatter fresh parsley over the top of the pan, and serve.

The New York Times suggests slicing the chicken into strips to serve. If you’re trying to wrap this into a pita, that obviously makes sense. But if you’re having the chicken more as a meal unto itself, you can simply place a whole thigh on a plate alongside any other fixings you’re serving.