Resident Recipe - Chicken Gyros

Welcome to the first recipe from food blogger Mark Popkiewicz.

This dish is so fresh and tasty and perfect for enjoying during the current warm weather. Hopefully it will conjure up memories of past holidays when you’ve enjoyed similar dishes. The marinade and herbs certainly evoke visions of Greece for me.

 If you are unable to get flatbreads you can use pittas or alternatively omit the breads and serve the chicken and salad with rice or couscous.  

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• 1 large tbsp dried oregano
• 8 tbsp Greek yoghurt
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (you can leave out if unable to get hold of)
• 4 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large cucumber
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 2 flat breads

Method

In a large bowl, add 3 tbsp of yoghurt, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp lemon juice, oregano and a good pinch of salt and pepper, mix thoroughly, add the chicken breasts and coat with the marinade then place into the fridge for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour (or longer if you have time).

Whilst the chicken is marinading make the tzatziki and salad to go with the gyros.  Using a box grater, grate half of the cucumber and place into a bowl along with 5 tbsp of yogurt.  Add 1 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, 1 clove of minced garlic and a good pinch of salt and pepper, mix thoroughly and place into the fridge.

To make the salad, cut the remainder of the cucumber into bite sized chunks and place into a bowl, deseed the tomatoes and cut into small pieces, add these to the bowl along with the chopped onion. Mix together then chill in the fridge.

Once the chicken has marinaded, turn your grill onto high, place the chicken breasts onto a tray lined with foil and cook for around 20-30 minutes, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through (no pink meat).  Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken. 

Now the chicken has cooked, place onto a chopping board and leave to rest for 5 minutes.  Heat your flatbreads in the oven for a couple of minutes.  Slice your chicken into chunks and place onto the flatbread with a good portion of the tzatziki and salad.

Enjoy!

Sarah, Manager Of Old Street, Makes Chicken Gyros.

It took me about 30 minutes, maybe 40 to make (I didn’t see the section about marinating the chicken) which shows I didn’t take Marks advice on making sure to read the recipe from start to finish! Lesson learnt. 

The dish was lovely and was so light and refreshing and totally perfect for when it was such a hot day. Even though I didn’t marinate the chicken, I was still pretty impressed with how much flavour there was and look forward to trying Mark’s recipe next week! The most expensive item on the list was the chicken! Quick, cheap and easy and even got Mark’s approval! Although personally, I’d have given them 11/10!

“Love the look of your chicken gyros, it looks so fresh and healthy.  I would score 8 out of 10, if using pittas I would put the chicken and salad inside the pitta otherwise it might be a bit doughy,  it otherwise, a fantastic effort, well done Sarah.” Mark Popkiewicz

Mark’s Top Tip

You can tell when garlic is getting old as it will usually start to sprout but that’s not to say you can’t use it. If you cut open the garlic you will probably find a light green segment running through the middle, simply remove this otherwise it can taste slightly bitter.  If you have a small pot with some soil, you could stick the sprouting bulb below the surface, sprouting end up, and by the end of the year you should have a new whole bulb of garlic!

For more delicious, quick and cheap recipes check out Mark’s blog A Mouthful of Mark,