Greek for dinner

I swear I've been cooking, I just haven't been here blogging, more is the pity. Between work and life over all, I just haven't stopped to write about any of the cooking I've been doing. Good news is the recipes have been really good and completely worth repeating.

Tuesday night was Greek night here. True, it was Fat Tuesday, and Greek isn't the first thing one thinks of on Fat Tuesday, but I've been craving it for about a week or so now. Unfortunately, my nearby options for Greek food are all Daphne's. Daphne's isn't bad, but it isn't great. I've never liked their tzatziki sauce all that much.


Thankfully, my Cooking Light subscription kicked in, finally, and there was a whole article on fast food at home. Lo and behold there was a recipe for Chicken Souvalaki with a tahini/tzatziki hybrid sort of sauce to go on top.

Souvlaki is usually skewered meat, lightly marinated and grilled. It's a fast meal to pull together and one where lamb could easily fill in for the chicken. Which is exactly what I plan to do the next time I make this.
 The biggest change I made was not to skewer the chicken, just for ease of getting dinner done. But if I were to grill this outside, I'd likely use skewers just to keep the meat from falling through the grill.


Chicken Souvlaki with Yoghurt Tahini Sauce
From Cooking Light


6  tablespoons  plain fat-free Greek yogurt
2  tablespoons  shredded cucumber
1 1/2  tablespoons  tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
5  teaspoons  fresh lemon juice, divided
5  garlic cloves, minced (this made for a really garlicy sauce, cut back if you'd like)
1  tablespoon  extra-virgin olive oil
1  teaspoon  dried oregano
1/4  teaspoon  salt
1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
1  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces (I used chicken breast tenderloins left whole for ease)
4  (6-inch) pitas, cut in half
1  cup  shredded lettuce
1/2  cup  thinly sliced red onion
16  (1/4-inch-thick) slices cucumber
16  (1/4-inch-thick) slices plum tomato

Combine yogurt, shredded cucumber, tahini, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and garlic in a small bowl; set aside.

Combine remaining 2 teaspoons lemon juice, olive oil, and next 4 ingredients (through chicken) in a small bowl. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat grill pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 10 minutes or until done.

Serve with the pita, lettuce tomatoes, onions and yogurt sauce.