In honor of this season’s final Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, I’m using the turkey thighs I froze at Thanksgiving to make Shawarma. A while back, I found an excellent marinade for Chicken Shawarma at Recipe Tin Eats that’s now my go-to. Full of aromatic garlic, cumin, coriander, and cardamom brightened by lemon juice, it smells so good on it’s own I’ll bet it’s pretty tasty just smeared on buttered bread.
I marinated the turkey yesterday, so I start by working on Whole Wheat Flatbread to go with it. The recipe for this flatbread came about accidentally one weekend when I was feeding my sourdough starter and didn’t want to waste the discarded portion. So I added it to the flatbread dough. I also wasn’t planning on using whole wheat flour, but was so distracted by shoo-ing SMQ out of the kitchen that before I realized it, I had weighed more than half whole wheat flour into the bowl already. I made up the rest with all purpose flour, finished the process, and it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The whole wheat adds a nice texture and the sourdough starter gives this flatbread a rich yeasty flavor that you don’t usually get with quickly risen breads. If you don’t have any sourdough starter you can just substitute equal parts flour and water. You just won’t get that signature tang.
Mix and proof for 5 minutes:
2 1/4 tsp. dry yeast (1 pkg)
1 cup (240 ml) warm water
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup (100 g) active sourdough starter
Add to the yeast mixture and knead 8-12 minutes:
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
2 1/2 cups (350 g) whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups (210 g) all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. salt
Ferment dough for 1 hour or until almost doubled in size. Divide into 8 balls and proof for 30 minutes. Preheat grill or griddle to medium high heat. Roll each ball out to 8″ diameter. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until it’s golden brown and starts to puff.
Print full recipe here.
I roast the turkey thighs in the oven at 375 F until they’re cooked through. While they rest I make a quick cucumber yogurt sauce, chop some lettuce, tomato, cucumbers and onions, and set out some homemade pickled vegetables. Fluffy flatbread, wonderfully spiced turkey, cooling cucumber sauce and tart pickled vegetables – these sandwiches turn out to be the highlight of today’s race. Any fellow F1 fans out there? Yeah, so you know what I mean…Zzzzz
Quick & Refreshing Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Grate and squeeze dry:
1 seedless cucumber
Mix in:
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 clove finely minced garlic
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
pinch of salt.
havekniveswillcook.com 