Greek Chicken Wraps

Our weekends have been really hectic lately. We have been preparing for the baby, who is due in about a month and a half, so our weekends have been taken up with things like prenatal class and shopping for baby stuff. As fun as it has been, it's also been pretty tiring, so cooking has fallen by the wayside a bit. You can probably tell from the decline in recipes that I've posted lately!

This past weekend, we still had some errands to run, but it wasn't nearly as busy. It was nice to have some downtime, which also meant that we were able to cook a delicious dinner instead of just popping a frozen pizza in the oven or boiling pasta to have with some simple sauce.

I have always really liked Greek food but have never really tried making any. I usually get my fix from take-out! I recently saw a delicious-looking recipe for Greek chicken gyro on Chef in Training and had to try it. The first time we made it, the pitas we got were pretty thin and split everywhere, but it still tasted delicious. This weekend, we thought we would try it again. This is one of my favourite ways to marinate chicken because it's so simple, but so tasty - especially with some tzatziki.

Ingredients for the chicken wraps:

• 4 chicken thighs (or 2 chicken breasts)
• 1 large lemon
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Pita 
• Tomato slices
• Red onion

Ingredients for the tzatziki:

• 1 cup of Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup of grated cucumber
• 1 teaspoon of vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt to taste

You should start marinating the chicken at least a couple of hours before you want to grill it. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into whatever container you are using to hold the chicken and the marinade, whether it's a plain bowl or a Ziploc bag. Be careful to keep the seeds out. Then chop up the lemon and throw the rind in as well. 

Add the olive oil, garlic, oregano and salt and pepper to the lemon juice and mix it well. Toss the chicken in and coat it well in the marinade. Leave the chicken in the fridge for at least two hours. You may want to give it a stir (or a flip if it's in a Ziploc bag) if the marinade doesn't cover all of the chicken so that all of the chicken pieces will be evenly flavoured. The longer it sits, the more delicious it gets. The first time I made it, I left it overnight and the flavour was amazing.

For the tzatziki, peel and de-seed the cucumber and finely grate it. Put it in a bowl and add some salt to it to help get the water out of the cucumber. Let it sit for an hour or so and then squeeze the water out of the cucumber. Mix the cucumber into the Greek yogurt with the vinegar, olive oil and salt (though if you added enough to dehydrate it, you may not need very much at this stage). Stir well and keep the tzatziki chilled until the chicken is ready.

Grill the chicken, then cut it into strips. 

Top the surface of the pita with tzatziki and then put the chicken, tomato slices and red onion along the middle of the pita. Roll the edges of the pita up and then wrap the pita with tinfoil to hold everything together so that it's easier to devour. Enjoy!

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