CHICKEN WITH TAHINI

Here's a simple, tasty dish that can be quickly prepared in advance, left to marinade, and then bunged in the oven, or slapped on the barbie for a delicious, summery supper. It is taken from Moro The Cookbook, recipe book from the eponymous restaurant in London's trendy Hoxton. The original recipe is for chicken wings, marinaded and then grilled, but I use the marinade ingredients to coat chicken thighs, for a more substantial meal. I have also marinade a whole, spatch-cocked chicken. According to the recipe preamble, this is "a classic Lebanese dish, perfect for the barbecue". Serve with tahini sauce, fresh parsley leaves, and wedges of lemon. Oh, and some good bread.....

Serves 4
12 chicken wings, tips removed, or 4 large chicken thighs
Tahini sauce
1 small bunch fresh, flat-leaf parsley
1 lemon quartered
sea salt and black pepper

Marinade
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp tahini paste
1 tbsp olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together, add the chicken pieces and leave to steep for at least an hour.

A barbecue is ideal to cook the chicken (if using bigger chicken pieces, make sure they are properly cooked). Alternatively, the chicken can be cooked in the oven at 220C, until the skin is golden brown and slightly charred, and the meat is cooked through. Serve with Tahini Sauce (below).

Tahini Sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp tahini paste
juice of 1 lemon
5 tbsp water
black pepper
sea salt

Combine all the ingredients, using the water to loosen the sauce, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Moro website