Olives & Oranges

I've often praised this cookbook by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox and thought it would be a good resource for our effort to eat more healthily. It has not disappointed and I used three recipes from it when we had guests over for dinner.

The roast chicken zata'ar was straightforward -- just smear a mix of butter, garlic and zata'ar spice mix under the skin of chicken, stuff onion, thyme and lemon peel into the cavity and roast at 425 for 15 minutes and then another hour or so at 350. The recipe says to roast to 165 internal temperature, but I would probably prefer to leave it in a while longer.

We accompanies with the pan-roasted asparagus that entailed frying some bacon and then roasting the asparagus in the bacon grease and topping with a hard-boiled egg pressed through a sieve and the butter-enriched grease from the pan. The third dish was yellow and red tomatoes cut into sections and topped with cilantro (or fresh coriander seeds if available) and feta and drizzled with oil and sherry vinegar.

Very Mediterranean, very tasty and a great little menu.