Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma and my excuses

Quick post before too many weeks go by without an entry! How did three weeks slip by ??
I can tell you how...two weeks ago I went to Baton Rouge to visit Genevieve. I had great intentions of catching up with my blogging while "on vacation". Instead, and a better plan anyway, we ate great food. Whenever Genevieve and I get together, food is an important part of the visit.
The crawfish boil pictured below is one of my favorite meals in an area with many great options. I love that you go down to the nearby convenience store and order it by the pound. They scoop into a newspaper lined plastic bag and voila, an amazing feast without need for plates or utensils, just have plenty of paper towels handy.

We also had charbroiled oysters in honor of Frank, who loves them. This platter actually had two other preparations as well, Oysters Rockefeller and Bienville. They were all excellent and worth the hour we had to wait at the restaurant to get a table.

This has nothing to do with the recipes I am going to share but it is my excuse to myself for not posting sooner.

When I got home I had only a couple of days before I was off to another adventure which did not revolve around food. In order to have good food to eat during this weekend event, I made this chicken dish along with my favorite coconut curried rice.

Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma

• 2 pounds, boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
• 2 tablespoons, chopped fresh parsley ( optional)

For the marinade

• 2 lemons, juiced
• ½ cup olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and minced or grated*
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• Red pepper flakes, to taste  

1) Combine the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper flakes in a large bowl, or I mix my marinade right into the glass pan I am going to marinate my chicken in, then whisk to combine.

2) Add the chicken and toss well to coat.

3) Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.

4) When ready to cook, heat oven to 425 degrees.

5) Add the quartered onion to the chicken and marinade, and toss once to combine.

6) Remove the chicken and onion from the marinade, and place in an oiled baking pan. If you like it crispy be sure to make plenty of room in the pan. I had it in a smaller baking dish where it overlapped a lot which made it moister, which I like.

7) Roast until it is browned, crisp at the edges and cooked through, about 30 to 40 minutes.

8) Serve with the fresh parsley sprinkled if you like, on top over a bed of rice.

This is the kind of dish that ages well. I ate it for the next week and found the flavors only deepen.