As summer begins to wind down, the best dinners for sharing with friends and family don’t require hours of careful prep or come out in perfectly coursed installments. High-effort, precision cooking is fun to embrace now and then, particularly for celebratory occasions, but it doesn’t invite the ease and camaraderie that a relaxed spread can bring. So while you savor the last days of summer, keep your menus simple and the flavors fresh. Inspired by the sun-drenched warmth of our color Olive, we’ve crafted an easy Mediterranean summer supper for just such a moment. Our menu relies on a couple smart cooking hacks that use our cookware in inventive ways to achieve the deep flavor of traditional dishes. Turn on your twinkle lights and call up a few friends—this easy, colorful supper is one to share..
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Street-Cart Style At Home: Loaf Pan Chicken Shawarma
If you’ve ever tasted true chicken shawarma, you know the chicken’s burnished color, juicy tenderness and deep savory flavor are unparalleled. In addition to the fragrant spice rub (which can differ slightly from region to region), the shawarma develops its flavor from slow-roasting on a vertical spit. Pieces of meat are layered atop another and skewered vertically, meaning that as it roasts, the flavorful fat and juices run down, basting all the meat below it. Don’t have a vertical rotisserie handy? Neither do most of us, but you can achieve street-cart style shawarma with the help of our enameled cast iron Signature Loaf Pan. You’ll stack marinated chicken thighs tightly in the loaf pan and weigh it down with another pan while roasting. Then you remove the pan and continue roasting until the chicken comes out bronzed, crispy and tender. With hardly any hands-on work, it emerges ready for slicing and serving with pita, yogurt and chopped veggies.
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A Traditional Treat: Apricot, Pistachio and Saffron Crispy Rice
Crisp, crunchy, golden, buttery—it’s no wonder that just about everyone who tries Persian-style rice falls in love. The traditional dish is called tahdig, and refers not to an entire rice dish but a very specific element of it: the crunchy base layer of rice that’s left to crisp in butter as the rest of the rice steams. Long considered a delicacy, tahdig literally means “bottom of the pot,” and this golden, crunchy layer of rice often disappears from the table the moment it’s served. Inspired by this traditional treat, we suggest preparing a similar version in the Signature Oval Baker. The larger surface area of this enameled cast iron baker provides even more space for the bottom layer of rice to crisp up during cooking, ultimately creating more of the irresistible crunchy bits. You’ll complement the savory, buttery crunch with sweet apricots and rich pistachios for a beautiful balance.
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The Magic of Time: Lamb Tagine with Raisins and Almonds
Braising is nothing more than a tool for harnessing the power of time. Given hours in the right environment, even the most everyday cuts of meat or sturdiest vegetables can transform into a tender, luxurious main course. The tagine is a traditional Moroccan cooking vessel designed to return moisture to the food during a slow cooking process. The vessel became such an integral part of the region’s cuisine that “tagine” came to mean both the vessel itself and the braised stews cooked in it. Our take on classic lamb tagine features an abundance of vegetables and herbs to add lightness to the meltingly tender meat. The tagine simmers away in our Round Wide Oven, whose superior heat retention and slightly domed lid can offer the same steady heat and moist environment of the traditional vessel. It makes a perfect centerpiece for a Mediterranean supper, where warm spices dance with bright, fresh herbs.
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