My Big Fat Greek Night Alone

I had a rare second night to myself this week when Chris got the opportunity to go see the Sporting KC play up at the Livestrong Sporting Park. I was feeling tired and very uninspired, so I went to the one place I can always count on to get my culinary juices flowing: my grocery store. I freaking LOVE my grocery store and all the amazing employees in it. I always feel like Norm from Cheer's when I'm walking around that place. Everyone really does know my name! I have been shopping there faithfully for the last 9 years, I know every inch of that place. It is a respite for me.

If I had to pick a favorite spot in the store it would have to be the meat dept. The guys back there take such good care of me! They never have a problem cutting something special for me or pointing patiently to each chicken breasts until they get to the one I want. They always know what they are talking about and I am never sorry I take their advice. They didn't disappoint me on this trip either.

My good buddy Kyle asked what I was making and when I told him I came in for ideas he didn't hesitate to start telling me about what he'd be craving: a Greek lamb-burger w tzatziki sauce and red onions. Needless to say after only being in the building for 5 mins, I now had the inspiration I had gone in to seek.

I love my grocery store.

And thus was born the Greek Chicken Pita Sandwich w Warm Orzo Salad. Strap on in for this one folks, we are going on a trip.

For the chicken I used:

Boneless skinless chicken breast

Greek yogurt

Lemon

Mayonnaise

Sea Salt

Garlic

Greek Seasoning Blend

Freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, I added equal amounts of the Greek yogurt and mayo. To that I squeezed the juice from one whole lemon. Then I seasoned it w the sea salt, pepper and Greek seasoning. I used a garlic press to crush the garlic, ran my knife through it and then I threw that in too. It still needed a little "something", so I added a pinch of dried oregano and 2 dashes of Worcestershire sauce (isn't that always the answer?). I tasted it to make sure it rocked my world and then slathered it all over the chicken.

I lightly sprayed a shallow baking dish w cooking spray then placed the chicken in the dish. I baked it in a preheated 400 degree oven until the chicken was cooked through and was golden brown and a little bubbly. I placed the baking dish on a trivet and covered it in foil to rest.

While the chicken was baking I whipped up my version of a quick tzatziki sauce.

I began w some finely chopped red onion and more crushed garlic.

This is an English cucumber.

Or, a Hot House cucumber.

Either way, it is seedless and usually comes vacuum wrapped. It is used a lot in Greek food. They are really delicious, I think they taste like summertime.

The following is simple demo on how to finely chop a cucumber. You can use the same technique to chop a lot of other things shaped like cucumbers: carrots, zucchini, squash, smoked sausages, etc...

You will need a very sharp knife.

Cut a off a hunk.

Then cut that hunk in half the long way.

Cut each half into planks.

 Cut each of the planks into sticks.

Cut through all the sticks to make perfect little cubes.

Add the diced cucumber to the the onion and the garlic.

Then I chopped some fresh oregano, which I learned from my home-girl Rachael Ray, means "joy of the mountain" in Greek. I also chopped up some mint that I had on hand from my stir fry the other night, and added them to the mix.

 I crumbled up some Feta cheese and put it in the hot tub.

This is feta cheese. It is a dry, tangy cheese made from goat's milk. You've probable had it on a salad to maybe even a pizza before. If you have not tried it previously, you should. IT IS SUPER YUMMY.

 Finally, I add the remaining Greek yogurt, some red wine vinegar, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Stirred it up and here's what I got:

Cover it and refrigerate it until time to assemble the sammie.

I had just enough time to get the Warm Orzo Salad going before I had to pull the chicken out of the oven. The inspiration behind this dish was a traditional Greek Orzo Salad but I wanted mine to be warm when I added the dressing so that the flavors would meld and the cheese would soften up. It was super easy to put together. Here's what I used this time:

Orzo, fresh mint and oregano, red bell pepper, feta cheese, red onion, garlic and English cucumber. I also used some boxed chicken broth that I neglected to get in the picture, and I must give credit where credit is due.

First, I started w my favorite after work activity, chopping the veggies! Since I was using orzo, a small rice shaped pasta, I wanted to keep everything about the same size so that it not only looked uniform but it cooked evenly as well.

(sorry for the blurry and small pics, I have since figured out the prob and have corrected it. This is most def a work in progress. I'm still learning, gosh!)

I heated a little oil in a stock pot over high heat and sauteed the ONION and PEPPER until soft and all the purple had cooked out of the onion.

 Then I threw in the crushed garlic and orzo. I season it w sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and a touch of the aforementioned Greek Seasoning blend. I stirred it around until the pasta began to turn a toasty golden brown.

 Once I could smell the garlic and the pasta was lightly browned I added some chicken broth. 

Unlike most pastas, for this dish, I don't boil the orzo and then drain it. I cook it like rice. I use the old 2:1 ratio, 2 parts liquid 1 part rice or grain, or in this case, pasta. I bring the whole thing to a hard boil then I put a lid on it, turn the heat down to low and leave it to simmer until most of the liquid has been adsorbed.

  I taste it for seasoning and doneness ~ I want it to be al dente (which means "to the tooth" in Italian, which means not overcooked and mushy in any language!!!) If it needs it, you can add a splash more of the chicken broth and continue to simmer until done. I put it into a bowl to let cool while I made the Greek dressing for it.

 

I went pretty standard for this dressing. I used extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, chopped mint and oregano, chopped cucumber, lemon zest and juice, grated garlic (he went out to the hall to call his bulbs back home before the grating and missed the photo op) and feta cheese. And you probably recognize my sweet blender in there too. She made this dressing super easy for me.

  I combined everything except the oil in the blender and whirred away until all the pieces were finely chopped. Then I removed the little lid-within-the-lid and streamed in the olive oil. I let my blender do the emulsifying for me.

Emulsion is an easy thing to do but a difficult thing to explain to I went straight to the pros for a little help. http://stellaculinary.com/ is an invaluable resource for me. You should get to know Stella.

 An emulsion is defined by combining two liquids that will maintain their distinct characteristics after being mixed. When talking about emulsions as applicable in a kitchen, the term emulsion refers to combining fat and water. Culinary emulsion can take two different forms; fat dispersed into water and water dispersed into fat. Common fat in water emulsifications include hollandaise, mayonnaise, aioli, milk, cream, and pan sauces. Water in fat emulsifications are most commonly found in the form of vinaigrettes and whole butter.

 

Long story short, it should look a like this when it's done. Huh, looks like a dressing to me!

I poured the dressing over the still slightly warm pasta and added a little extra feta and stirred to combine. I chose to eat it warm, because no one else was there to tell me otherwise. It was extraordinarily delicious. Am I allowed to say that? I believe I will. It was extraordinarily delicious.

To assemble this fine wich of sand, I warmed up a whole wheat pita in my still toasty oven. 

I sliced the chicken on the bias as thinly as I could.

I liberally spread some of that zingy tzatziki sauce inside. I thinly sliced some cucumber and red onion and added those in.

Finally, when I couldn't stand it for one more second I crammed it full of the chicken and more feta cheese. 

This picture absolutely does not do this sandwich any justice at all.

That's a little better. But I am telling you right now that if you have never tried Greek food, this would be a great gateway item to make. I love Greek food and most of the weird to us Americans ingredients that it uses. I tried to keep my list of ingredients simple and fresh, stuff we are all familiar with, in the hopes that you might get a wild hair up your derriere and cook something totally new and outside the box.