Ingredients
Chicken marinade
1 package of chicken
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp harissa
Garlic powder, onion powder
2 garlic cloves
Pickled Red onion
1 part water
1 part red wine vinegar
Salt
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Can of drained chickpeas
Juice from a full lemon
1/4 cup tahini
2 tbsp olive oil
garlic clove
Roasted red bell pepper
Tzatziki
2 cups Greek yogurt
2 mini persian cucumbers
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 half small lemon juice
mint, dill, parsley salt, pepper
Tomato Salad
1 part red onion
2 part mini persian cucumber
3 part tomato
some mint and parsley
salt, olive oil and lemon juice
Harissa Vinaigrette
Spices – cayenne, italian herbs, cumin, coriander
6 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Harissa
2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
Salt
1 tbsp Water
Turmeric Rice
1 cup rice, 1 cup water
1/2 tsp turmeric
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
Method of making
Cava Takes the Cake here if you haven’t had Cava before it’s pretty much a Mediterranean Chipotle it’s really fresh it’s surprisingly delicious and it’s not available in Seattle so if you’re like me and you can’t get your hands on Cava you’re in luck I’m going to show you how you can make a delicious Mediterranean Bowl that’s going to replace your next takeout meal if you plan correctly this is perfect for a week night I’m talking honey Harissa chicken thigh turmeric rice roasted red pepper hummus pickled onions tomato salad and cool suziki there’s a lot to love here so let’s make it we’re going to start by marinating the chicken thigh an important step that can easily be done in advance chicken thigh is the go-to for this as it’s going to leave us with a really really nice tender and delicious
protein for our Bowls the fat running through the meat of the thigh means it can be cooked a little bit bit longer without being totally dry and chalky a problem with white meat in a container mix together 2 tbsp of Harissa 2 tbsp of olive oil one tbsp of red wine vinegar 1 tbsp of Honey 1 tbsp of lemon juice two cloves of grated garlic and then for seasonings we’ll do garlic powder onion powder some dried Italian herbs and coriander lastly we need a bunch of salt and pepper for this give it a good mix and then turn to the chicken this is a package of chicken thigh which in my grocery store can range anywhere from one pound to like a pound and a half anything around there is going
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
to be perfect trim off any extra fat or tendons from the meat and mix it into the marinade the vinegar and the salt are going to help tenderize the meat slightly and everything else is going to bring a flavorful punch that the chicken really needs to shine the honey is the sweetness while the horis is going to be the spice put a Lin on this and set it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes if you’re in a rush but a couple hours works really well parissa is a North African red pepper paste that’s spicy Smoky and a little bit tart this is a staple of North African cuisine and it’s definitely worth working into your cooking repertoire it’s delicious in and in my opinion it’s one of the Hallmarks
of most Caba dishes pickled red onions are a non-negotiable in my bowl what’s really nice about these is you can make them ahead like on a weekend and you can use them for so many things other than just this bowl so make a batch keep it in the fridge they last for a really long time and they’re super delicious start by slicing half a red onion into a Julien and if you don’t know how to best do that check out my primer on cutting onions place your slic onions in a jar and set that aside I ended up having to use a little bit more than half an onion for my size jar but really the container itself is going to dictate your measurements for this mix together red wine vinegar and water in
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
equal parts and for my jar that’s about 1/2 cup each at the stove bring your water vinegar mixture to a boil with a large pinch of salt and then pour that over the onions place the lid on and let it cool slightly at room temperature and then set them in the fridge these need a few hours in the fridge to really get that nice beautiful pink Hue again they get better with time so keep them around this should line up with your chicken marinade but if you’re tight on time plan on making these ahead or on the weekend again they keep super super well they’re really delicious and they go on everything hummus is something that we constantly have in our fridge it’s pretty much a perfect snack
anytime however if you’re keeping up with groceries lately it can be pretty expensive and making it at home means we make it for a whole lot cheaper like a can of chick bees is maybe a dollar and it becomes a canvas for any kind of flavor you could want today that flavor is going to be roasted red pepper which we can make by grabbing a red bell pepper and holding it over the flames on your stove if you’ve got a gas burner what I like to do though is just throw it under the broiler on high and turn it around as it gets charred you want the whole thing to get n nice and
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
dark and blackened once that’s done place this in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap so the pepper can steam and become tender once it’s cooled enough to handle remove the top and seeds and then wipe off the charred skin with either like a paper towel or if you get it right you can just pull it off with your hands slice that into a smaller size so it can fit into our food processor and then slice a lemon in half while you’re here we’re going to need that as well into the Basin of a food processor put a can of drained chickpeas a/ 4 cup of tahini the juice of a lemon those roasted red pepper pieces we cut and a clove of garlic garlic let that Blitz for a while so that everything is able to
break down the chickpeas begin to mix together with the tahini and it starts to get smooth while that’s running drop in two ice cubes one at a time to give it a little bit more liquid a little bit more fluff and so that the food processor doesn’t heat up this leads to a really really nice and smooth hummus but you’ll see we haven’t added olive oil yet the olive oil will actually like turn really really bitter if you let it run the entire time in the processor the notes you get are like vegetal and really really kind of gross and it just overpowers the entire hummus so save it till the end it’s going to save you a lot of flavor and you’re going to get a much better final product drip in about 2 tablespoons
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
of olive oil as the blade runs on low we want this hummus to be crazy smooth and to do so do most of the mixing up front and the little bit of olive oil that we add is just going to be to bring that final bit of nice texture that we need I usually like to season this with salt pepper smoked paprika cumin coriander anything I’ve got lying around works really really well for this cover that up up and set it in the fridge while we work on the other dishes again this is a nice thing that you can make pretty much at any time and it stores for a while and you can snack on it when you want another delicious component of this dish is ziziki a creamy and tangy dip that cools the whole dish off and makes you want to keep coming back bite after bite grate two Persian cucumbers on the tiny side of a box
grater into a clean towel or cheesecloth quick question does anyone own cheesecloth like I cook a lot and I don’t think I’ve ever owned cheesecloth it’s not like oh let me just grab some cheesecloth at the grocery store so use a clean towel mix a pinch of salt into the grated cues and squeeze out all of the extra water there’s going to be a ton so really really go at it here place that into your container and Grate in like two to three cloves of garlic and the juice of half a lemon add in 2 cups of plain Greek yogurt and a good glug of olive oil this benefits from tons of fresh herbs so be sure to add in some mint some dill and some parsley I’m sure sure that no Greek grandmother has ever measured the amount of herbs they’re adding so I’m not going to do so either just as note don’t go crazy on the
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
mint or dill and you’re going to have a really good time add in a large pinch of salt and give this a mix to bring the whole thing together it should be Tangy fresh and really really really tasty pop on a lid and set it in the fridge while we finish up the rest of the dish the tomato salad that we’re going to be making is quick and fresh and can really be used for a ton of other things as well usually not like the biggest fan of cucumbers in all honesty but this kind of makes me see their purpose they’re kind of crispy watery and help the whole dish feel more balanced the ratio I like to use for the salad is about one part thinly sliced red onion to two parts cubed Persian cucumbers to three parts cherry tomato slice your onions into strips the same kind of Julien we had for the pickled onions and then cut those pieces in half because we’ve got the pickled onions we also don’t want to like overwhelm the dish with raw onion
flavor dice your cucumber and then season them with salt to bring out a little bit of that water that they hold on to before it goes into the salad slice your cherry tomatoes in half and place those in the container with the onion what I like to do is whatever herbs I’ve got lying around following the ziki I put those in this as well so any of the mint any of the dill any of the parsley that all goes in here place it at the bottom of the container below the onions and then onions on top tomatoes and then cucumber on top of that that way it can sit in the fridge until we’re ready I really like to drizzle the olive oil down the side of the container so it doesn’t like soak into everything just yet it sort of sits on the bottom with the onions in the herbs and then once we’re ready we can just squeeze some lemon
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
into it put the lid back on and shake it and our salad is ready to go it’s really really simple it’s really easy and this way of storing it helps it have a little bit longer of a shelf life until you’re ready for it to go with all of the spicy Tangy goodness that’s going on it’s nice to have something crunchy and cool to munch on Cava has a Harissa vinegrette that you can’t really miss if you’re getting a bowl but the recipes for it on it are super split mixed together 6 tablespoons of a good tasting olive oil 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar and 1 tbsp of hesa we’re going to season this with cayenne coriander cumin smoked paprika and some of those dried Italian herbs if your Harissa is thicker you can add a tablespoon of water to thin it out slightly if it sits in the fridge for too long you’re going to want to add a little bit of water as well shake it up before you’re serving and you’re good to go this may not be an exact copy of
the Harissa vinegret but it gets really really close and it works perfectly well here I’m going to whip up a bed of rice for all of this deliciousness to sit on and for it all to soak in and get really really nice and Saucy and Basmati is the go-to here Caba has the financial backing to use saffron in their rice but not me so turmeric is going to mimic that yellow color wash your rice and cook it in the rice cooker with a ratio of 1 to one rice to water if you’re doing this on the stove use like one cup of rice to 1 and 1/2 cups water or so add a half teaspoon of turmeric for that beautiful yellow color and a large pinch of salt let that cook and you’ve got some beautifully fluffy basmati rice perfect for spping up all of the juiciness from from the chicken and speaking of chicken we’re going to grab the marinated chicken from the fridge and place a large pan over medium heat we want to be careful about getting the
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
pan too hot because the honey and the Harissa and the marinade can burn and stick to the pan so we’re going to go a little bit lower than usual for the chicken at places like Chipotle or Cava they’ve got massive grills that can easily be scraped and so they can go pretty hot for searing chicken what I like to do is sort of a medium heat here and constantly flip the chicken so you still get some of that Browning the glaze has time to cook and sort of like turn into a little bit more of a condensed seasoning for the chicken to rest in because the heat isn’t crazy high we don’t need to worry about getting all of the color right away flip your chicken a couple times as it Cooks to kind of sop up all of the glaze that’s forming in the pan these thighs need about 10 to 15 minutes to get all the color they need and to remain super juicy thigh is great for this because the meat’s not going to overcook at all in that time just monitor the Heat and make sure that the Harissa isn’t going to burn and the Honey is not going to stick or burn either remove the chicken from the pan to rest and pour on any of the juicy glaze that’s still in there that’s all
delicious flavor that we want to make sure gets on the chicken as the chicken cools we can toast up some peita in a pan with a little bit of olive oil get that nice and crispy and then when it comes out season it with smoked paprika and salt these can be cut into little chips and you can use it to top your bowl or you can just have them around to dip in our hummus or the ziki these are just a really really nice thing to have around super delicious and makes our bowl a little bit more special too we’re pretty much ready to build we’ve got all of our beautiful Parts ready to go the chicken can be cubed and then toss it in any of the leftover juices give the chicken a taste and add in probably
How To Make An Amazing Mediterranean Bowl (CAVA Copycat)
another pinch or two of salt just to make sure it pops really well you’re going to want to notice how juicy and well seasoned it is you’re going to want to taste it to make sure that’s balanced perfectly between the Tangy vinegar the sugar and the spice from the Harissa to build our bowls you’re going to want to lay down a generous portion of rice and go item by item top it with some of the tomato cucumber salad put on a handful of chicken a scoop of taziki a scoop of hummus the pickled onions you could put on some spring mix or some spinach if you’ve got that lying around in the fridge as well a drizzle of that Harissa vinegret some crumbled feta if you’ve got it around the toasted pea this bowl hits sort of like every possible cravable flavor you want on a week night for a healthy meal it’s got
that little bit of sugar from the honey it’s got the spice it’s got Tang it’s cool it’s delicious and something that you’re definitely going to want to make if you’ve got the forethought you can plan ahead and make a couple of these dishes beforehand and just keep them in your fridge and eat them with other parts during the week you’re going to be having a really really good time you could easily just make the chicken and the rice the day of and then everything else just have prepped beforehand your pickled onions are going to keep forever vinegret keeps a long time hummus will stick around it’s just a great kind of catch all it’s delicious and it’s going to be really really delightful for your week night meals take it for me this is what you want to be eating on a Thursday night after a long day of work it’s a less in brightness in acidity in saltiness and in spiciness it also keeps really really well so that day two leftover lunch for Friday is going to come out really delicious and your co-workers are going to be jealous thank you so much
About the Author
