Yesterday I got to leave work early because I got to go to Naf Naf Grill and learn how they make their chicken shawarma – so fun!ย I also got to see my bestie Erica and my Chicago boyfriend Dan (aka Erica’s husband). ๐
What I am so impressed with at Naf Naf is that everything, and I mean everything is made in house – the sauces, the pita, and this chicken shawarma.ย Shawarma literally means: roasted meat, especially when cooked on a revolving spit and shaved for serving in sandwiches.”
They use leg and thigh meat for their shawarma – its seasoned heavily with tumeric, cumin, coriander among other ingredients.ย It’s so good!ย It takes about an hour for the first spit to be ready – the middle will still be raw, but as you slice and cut, the new meat is exposed to the 800-1000 degree oven behind it.ย Chef Pat said they usually go through 3-4 of those a day!
Check out my boyfried trimming the chicken:
It smells so good too!
And I got to hang out with Erica – she and her husband are moving to Florida so I am trying to hang out with them as much as possible before they leave.ย I’ll be at Gourmet Chicago with Erica on September 29 ๐
My bowl – you have so many options – your meal in a pita, or in a bowl with a choice of base: salad, couscous, basmati rice or hummus.ย Then add your toppings!ย Best part is that you can see the nutrition for everything.ย I got the salad base, with 1/3 cup of the rice, the chicken shawarma, tomato, cucumber, red cabbage – get the pickles! – and the amba sauce which is like a pickled mango sauce – so tangy and delicious!ย And don’t even get me started on the pita bread – best I’ve ever had.
I think Erica and Dan’s daughter loved the pita ๐
Naf Naf has 5 Chicago locations, and I think 17 suburban locations.ย If you aren’t familiar with Middle Eastern food, this is a great place to start.ย And they sell their pita breads on a 5 pack to go for $5.
I was able to catch the 4:45 train, which would be my dream train to take every day – I was back at my home train station at 5:39!ย I still had to get my steps in so I walked for 30 minutes after my Naf Naf cooking lesson, and treated myself to this two point Starbucks – a grande cold brew with non-fat cascara foam and two pumps sugar free vanilla.ย So good!
And guess what’s back in my kitchen?ย DELICATA SQUASH!ย Be prepared to see all things delicata – of course I had to make my delirings – deep fried – they were just as good as I remembered them.ย You can find the recipe for the deep fryer or baked/air fryer version here.
Happy Friday friends!ย I am going to be spending the weekend in Wisconsin – tomorrow I’ll be making vegan dishes with my friend Justin of Crow Moon Kitchen and Sunday have a WW meetup in Milwaukee that I was invited to.ย So fun!ย Momma, do you want to come over on Monday for a BBQ?ย I’ll give you a call.
Make it a great day, and don’t eat like an asshole.
Love, Biz
I love to roast my Delicada squash. It comes out so yummy. I often roast it and bring it to work for lunch the next day. Squash is such a good vegetable. You can do so much with it. My other favorite squash is that pumpkin squash I believe itโs called Kabocha. It is bright orange inside and tastes like sweet potato.
Iโm going t make the squash rings in my air fryer, canโt wait! ๐๐โค๏ธโค๏ธ