Sunday, July 1, 2007

Gyros my way

I'm not the most adventurous with food, but there is a great Greek/Mediterranean place here in OKC called Zorba's. I don't particularly care for lamb, but I do enjoy the chicken "gyro" that they make there. You can have it with fries or tabbouleh, another middle eastern/mediterranean delicacy I enjoy from time to time. I haven't been there since, oh, last fall. We had planned to go at lunch one day, but there weren't any parking spaces anywhere near it!

We ended up going to an awful hamburger place. Good fries, but my god, my husband's burger disgusted me...it had three kinds of meat...and I'm a meat girl!

So I got the bright idea to make my own chicken gyro/pita thing. I'm still trying to figure out what to call it. The sauce was very tasty, and the whole thing was SO incredibly good for you!

This is what I did, feel free to mess with it. It certainly isn't patented!

For the cucumber-lemon-yogurt sauce

1 cup plain yogurt (I used full fat, it's not that bad)
Strain the yogurt in this fashion (by all means, if you can get Greek yogurt, go for it, but I can't for the life of me find it!): Put a strainer over a bowl where the strainer doesn't hit bottom, about 1 inch difference. Place a paper towel (or cheesecloth) in the strainer, spoon the yogurt in, and top with another paper towel. Refrigerate for awhile. The liquid should drain out of the bottom and you will be left with a nice, thick concoction!
1/2 peeled and seeded cucumber, diced
Juice of 1 half lemon
About a tsp minced garlic
S&P to taste
1 TBS fresh parsley

Whiz all this up in a small food processor/chopper and you're good to go!

We made two gyros all together.

2 flat pita breads (the kind I found had plant sterols and were only 60 cals each and had 5 grams of fiber...feel free to use something else :) )
1 chicken breast
1 tomato, seeded, cored, and chopped
1 roasted red pepper (I just used one from a jar)
2 green lettuce leaves (or your preference)
2 TBS chopped red onion

I roasted the chicken breast at 400°F until done, about 25 minutes or so. I just seasoned with S&P. Warm the pita bread in the toaster oven or regular oven, or microwave if you must.

Assemble: Pita bread on plate, spoon about 1TBS or so of the sauce on 1 half. Top with onion, tomato, peppers, and some chopped roasted chicken. On the other half, spread a little more sauce, and place the leaf. Fold over and fasten with a toothpick.

I still had 1/2 the chicken breast left over! The chicken wasn't really the star of this meal--the freshness of all the wonderful veggies and the tangy sauce were!

Served with a side of nicely roasted red potatoes instead of the usual fries to keep it healthy.

I had enough sauce left and chicken left over to make my lunch for tomorrow.

Here is the final product:


Enjoy!

10 comments:

Gillian said...

sounds good - I love chicken gyros so I'll have to try the recipe soon!

Trisha said...

That sounds and looks great! My husband would love these!

*Rae* said...

oh that sounds so good I have had chicken gyro but never a lamb one before

Sylvia said...

Looks so good ,I never eat gyro chicken or lamb . I certainly try your recipe.

JANET said...

Welcome to the Foodie Blogroll. That yogurt sauce sounds good!

kamarul said...

Hi,

You have great blog. Would you mind to have a link exchange with me?

Please email me if you are interested.

my email : kamarul[at]hoteltravel[dot]com

I'd like to exchange your link with our company website.

Thanks.

Note: You can delete this comment.

We Are Never Full said...

We often make lamb 'gyros' with minced lamb (it's sometimes easier/cheaper to buy) and mix in some parsley, onions, oregano, garlic salt and pepper and mix in an egg to bind it all. We then mold it on to skewers and grill it. Slide the grilled lamb on to your pitas with some of the yogurt sauce (only difference is we add mint instead of parsely) chopped tomatoes, some lettuce and hot sauce and DAMN! you've got a simple, delicious meal. amy @ www.neverfull.wordpress.com

Unknown said...

teeth whitening

I always enjoy a good gyro, sadly there is no place here that really has one. You have inspired me to give making my own a try. Wish me luck!

Saikat said...

Hi,
Saikat from BlogsJam here.
Wanted to email you, but could not locate your email address on the
blog. we have 2 cool widgets ( a slideshow widget and a content widget
) which can help enhance site interaction and reader's experience. pl contact me at saibose@gmail.com so that i can send you the slideshow widget for your blog.

thx-Saikat

Unknown said...

Kelli I'm so glad that I found your blog! I always get so excited to find food bloggers in OKC! I LOVE Zorbas its one of my favorites. I'm moving from Norman to OKC in May after I get married. Check out my blog too :)
http://blog.veggiesandvalentino.com/