Monday, March 29, 2010

Chicken Gyros (with amazing soft wrap bread)

This is another fabulous recipe from "My Kitchen Cafe." The soft wrap bread and the tzatziki are really amazing. I highly recommend it. Jeremy gets so excited when he finds out I'm making it for dinner (whenever I do). It is a bit time intensive, so you need to plan a day ahead (to drain the yogurt for the sauce).

This looks like A LOT of work. It really isn't bad. You've got to try this if you like Greek food. I promise, you won't regret it and it can be assembled in little pieces throughout the day.
Ingredients:

Tzatziki sauce (needs to be started the night before):
16 oz plain yogurt (not fat free)
1 regular cucumber
2-3 cloves garlic through press
1 t. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
Squeeze of lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

Chicken:
4 cloves garlic, smashed
Juice of 1 lemon
2 t. red wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
2 heaping T plain yogurt
1 T dried oregano
salt and pepper
1 1/4 pounds chicken breasts cubed

Soft Wrap Bread (Pita Bread): (takes about 2 1/2 hours)
3 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup potato flour or 1/2 cup potato flakes
1 1.4 t. salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 t. instant yeast

Assembly:
Tomatoes
Sauteed red onions
Lettuce (if you want)

Directions:

Tzatziki: Place a few pieces of paper towel (or cheesecloth) over a strainer with a bowl underneath. Pour the yogurt into the paper towels, cover and let sit in the fridge overnight. This takes most of the moisture out of the yogurt (alternatively you could use a greek yogurt and forgo this process). The next day, peel and seed the cucumber and then shred it with a cheese grater. Add the cucumber, garlic, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and lemon to the yogurt in a bowl. Drizzle olive oil over the top and refrigerate to let the flavors meld. Serve with your chicken and pitas.

Chicken: Put everything into a ziplock bag and let marinate for 1 hour. Cook the chicken in the skillet or with a broiler. Once the chicken is cooked, let it rest for 5 minutes.

Pita Bread: Place 2 cups of the flour into a bowl and pour the boiling water over. Stir until smooth, cover the bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flakes, 1 cup of the remaining flour, salt, oil and yeast. Add this to the cooled flour mixture and stir and then knead for several minutes to form a soft dough. Let the dough sit and rise for 1 hour. Divide the dough into 8 balls and let rest for 15-30 minutes. Roll each piece into a 7-8 inch circle and dry fry them (no oil) in a frying pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes per side. Serve immediately with your Greek Food--yum yum!

Assembly: Re-heat the pitas. Top with the tzatziki, chicken, diced tomatoes, sauteed onions and lettuce. Serve immediately.

This is such an amazingly yummy dinner. You have to try it at least once to really understand--yum, yum!

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