Ultimate Roast Chicken & Vegetables with Zhug-Inspired Green Yogurt Sauce

Plus, grace after dinner?

This foolproof one-pan roast chicken dinner features silky potatoes, sticky onions, and a zhug-inspired green yogurt sauce (which does double duty as the marinade for the chicken, tendering the meat). I’m also sharing a weeknight-friendly variation using boneless, skinless chicken thighs for bowls or tacos!

A weeknight variation

Hello my dears,

As I shared last week, we spent our spring break in Arizona with my parents. While I told you about the blueberry pie my mom made for my birthday dinner, I didn’t tell you about the rotisserie chickens my dad cooked on the grill that night for dinner. Holy wow—the chickens rotated on a spit and turned luxuriously tender, the dark meat nearly slipping off the bone. A perfectly roasted chicken is one of my favorite foods in the world (today’s new recipe has climbed to the top of the list) in part because it gives me license to eat with my hands (even if there’s a green sauce dripping down my chin).

I don’t care how fancy the occasion (or restaurant), I will nibble off every last morsel of meat, fingers glistening with grease. It’s a skill I learned from my mom, who grew up getting just the bones of the occasional steaks her parents could afford to buy. There was usually no budget for steak for the kids, and there was no room for waste.

It’s a privilege, these meals we make. I’ve found they’re best eaten when seeped with gratitude. As I wrote about here, my family says grace every night before we eat, which is really just a few words of thanks—for the food, for the earth, for our bodies, and for each other.

Chili Crisp Shrimp Bowls + Redefining Grace

Taking a few seconds to pause before eating grounds us into our bodies and imbues the meal with more meaning. Recently I came across a passage in the book, To Bless the Space Between Us, by John O’Donohue, called Grace After Meals, which touched me deeply. I had never thought to say a blessing after eating. He writes:

We end this meal with grace
For the joy and nourishment of food,
The slowed time away from the world
To come into presence with each other
And sense the subtle lives behind our faces, 
The different colors of our voices, 
The edges of hungers we keep private, 
The circle of love that unites us. 
We pray the wise spirit who keeps us
To change the structures that make others hunger
And that after such grace we might now go forth
And impart dignity wherever we partake.

Extending Grace

We come together for the joy and nourishment of a meal, taking time out of our busy days to slow down and connect with one another (oh how I love the line, And sense the subtle lives behind our faces). We do this so that we can go forth in the world in our full light and dignity. And critically, we do it so that we can spread that grace to others, working to change the structures that cause so many others to go hungry.

On a psychological level, practicing gratitude has been linked to increased life satisfaction, optimism and resiliency. I’ve found that saying a few words of thanks before and after eating (and even while eating—talking about how delicious something is while eating it magnifies the pleasure!) is a wonderful way to cultivate more joy and connection in our lives. However, it can also be a powerful reminder that having access to fresh, nourishing food and a bit of time to sit together to enjoy it shouldn’t be a privilege—it should be a human right.

So let’s go forth my dears, basking in our meals, no matter how simple or extravagant they might be. And also, let’s spread that love outward, not just energetically, but also in real, practical ways. Whether it’s in donating to local food banks, or volunteering at soup kitchens, or advocating against government cuts to SNAP benefits and school lunch programs, or supporting local farmers and sustainable food systems, or making a meal for an elderly neighbor, let’s do what we can, bit by bit, to “change the structures that make others hunger.”

Let’s go forth, my loves, with gratitude and grace!

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Save the date!

The next Whole Life Nourishment class will be next Friday, May 2^nd at 11am ET! In the free class I’ll be sharing tips for managing histamines and seasonal allergies, including foods that support our liver health (critical for metabolizing histamines). On that note, we’ll be making an “eat-your-greens” Curried Broccoli and Cashew Soup, which is loaded greens but tastes rich and luxurious (even my kids love it). Click this link to save the date for the class.

*I’ll be sending out the soup recipe on Tuesday, but if you’d like it earlier (depending on when you do your shopping), just shoot me an email and I’ll send it to you directly.

The live-streamed class will be free for all subscribers, but the playback of the class (which I’ll be sending next Friday) will be available for paid subscribers only. Paid subscribers also have access to the full class archive and the full recipe index. You can upgrade your account at the link below, and thank you for your support!

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A Glorious Roast Chicken Dinner (Or Tacos/Bowls!)

Today’s roast chicken is just the kind of meal to linger over, basking in gratitude. The foolproof marinated chicken cooks over a bed of baby potatoes and onions, and it gets drizzled with a verdant green yogurt sauce that does double duty as the marinade. The flavors of the sauce were inspired from zhug, a Yemenite herb and chili sauce made with cumin, cardamom and coriander. Whole milk Greek yogurt gives it creaminess and also helps tenderize the chicken.

For a speedier dinner, you can use the same marinade/sauce with boneless, skinless chicken thighs to make killer grilled chicken tacos or bowls.

My bowl from earlier this week… the kids made tacos.. we were all happy.

The chicken is spatchcocked (meaning the backbone is removed), which helps it cook more quickly and evenly, ensuring juicy results. You can either ask your butcher to do this, or you can do it yourself, and I’ve included a how-to video below.

Below the paywall you’ll find:

• A printable recipe

• A taco/bowl variation using boneless, skinless chicken thighs

• A how-to video showing you how to spatchcock a chicken (and a great tip for seasoning a chicken without having to wash your hands a million times)

• Another favorite seasonal meal, inspired by a reader!