Chicken Gyros with Cucumber Salsa and Tsatsiki from Gourmet Magazine, March 2009

In the college town of Wheaton, Illinois, there sits a little restaurant called The Smokehouse. It's nothing fancy; wouldn't catch your eye and make you want to go in it from the outside appearance. However, they have the best lamb gyros in the U.S. and we look forward to our visits to the area because it means we also get to eat there once or twice (or thrice).

Gourmet magazine's final recipe in the series on chicken touches slightly on the gyro theme. It uses the same kind of bread and a version of tsatsiki sauce. There the similarities stop. It's not a bad thing that the tracks don't run more parallel, but it is a fact.

The meat consists of leftover chicken that's been shredded. The bread is naan or pocketless pita. In addition to those two things, there are two more lengthy preprations; the tsatsiki sauce and the cucumber salsa.

The tsatsiki sauce it typical with the omission of dill, which I think is a shame. Dill and tsatsiki are made for each other. Other than that, it is a simple matter of grating the cucumbers, wringing them dry (this is really important if you don't want runny sauce...and you don't), adding the cukes to the yogurt and then mixing in lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper.

A side note. When I'm dealing with recipes like this and they ask me to mince garlic and use it raw, I never do that because I still end up with little bits that I bite into and am left with a very strong garlic flavor that can overwhelm the rest of the sauce. Instead, I use my zester and finely grate the garlic. It results in a smooth paste that infuses the entire sauce without leaving little bits of bitterness.

The salsa is what you see; cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Simple, yet very, very tasty.

The final piece of prep is interesting and is what helps leftover chicken get flavor. Olive oil is heated in a saucepan, then more grated garlic is added, along with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper. After a low simmer, some of the garlic oil is brushed on the naan. The rest is for the chicken. The directions say to spoon it over the chicken, but since I wanted to heat my chicken up, I put it in the saucepan with the remaining garlic oil and mixed it up well.

It's a lot of little pieces that need worked on to all come together, no? There's one more item so don't give up yet. Those rounds of naan that got brushed with garlic oil need to go under the broiler, first covered with foil, then with the foil removed so they can brown. A word of warning; they brown quickly. I checked on mine and there was no browning yet, so I walked the chicken to the table and came back and checked again. They had, browned just a tad too much.  They need close watching.

When everything's done, here's how to assemble the chicken gyro sandwich. Lay a slightly broiled piece of naan on a plate. Slather it with the tsatsiki sauce. Add a mound of the garlic oil flavored chicken on top of that, then top it with the cucumber salsa. There should be some shredded iceberg lettuce on there, but I didn't bother with that since it's just basically green water.

This is a very good sandwich. We all enjoyed it quite a bit. Hubby did say that he much preferred the Chicken Souvlaki that I usually make to this though. Dudette loved the bread, sauce and salsa. She said that the chicken was too chewy and crunchy (?). I'm not sure what that means, but at least she didn't say it tasted bad. She ate the whole thing for what that counts. I enjoyed it.

If I made it again, there are a few things I'd do different. First, I'd add some dill to the tsatsiki as well as the garlic oil. It's just supposed to be there. Second, I'd marinate the meat in the garlic oil for a few hours to develop the flavors a bit, then heat it up. Third, I wouldn't leave the bread uncovered under the broiler. It's supposed to be soft and pliable; not crunchy. Little things that I think could make a good dish fantastic.

Chicken Gyros with Cucumber Salsa and Tsatsiki
from Gourmet Magazine


2 Kirby cucumbers, divided
1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt (3/4 pounds)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, divided
5 garlic cloves, minced, divided
1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped mint
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 rounded teaspoon dried oregano
1 rounded teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1 (12-ounces) package naan bread (four 8-inch pieces)
or 4 (8-inch) pocketless pita rounds
1/2 roast chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded (about 2 1/4 cups), and carcass reserved for stock
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced

Preheat broiler.

Peel and grate 1 cucumber. Squeeze out excess water with your hands. Stir grated cucumber into the yogurt then add 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, one third of garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Mix well to combine. Put the tsatsiki aside.

Dice remaining cucumber into 1/4-inch pieces and add to a small bowl with tomatoes, red onion, chopped parsley and mint, remaining 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to make salsa.

In a small saucepan, gently simmer the oil, oregano, rosemary, remaining garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour 3 tablespoons of the garlic oil over the chicken. Use the remainder to brush one side of bread.

Heat bread, oiled side up, in a rimmed baking sheet, covered with foil, 3 to 4 inches from broiler for 3 minutes. Uncover and broil, rotating bread for even coloring, until golden in spots, about 2 minutes.

To serve, spread some of the tsatsiki on warm bread and top with chicken and some of lettuce and salsa. Serve remaining lettuce, salsa, and tsatsiki on the side.