Foodie Friday's: Fusion Chicken Pitas

This week as I started to gather ingredients together to make one of my favorite marinades I had a thought. This thought poked me in the brain and asked me: Why don't you do a tutorial on this recipe for the blog?
Good question!

And so, I give you Foodie Friday's! Well, I give you Foodie Friday. If I am able to come up with something interesting and worthy of the world's approval and your tummies eating than I will, each week put one of these up! If I don't, I won't. :) But it should be interesting to see if I can make one interesting thing each week!

This week I would like to introduce you to Fusion Chicken Pita's. I am calling this recipe fusion because I simply can't decide if this leans more to the Mediterranean or to the Middle Eastern- and trust me I've been puzzling this over for quite a while now! If you are not familiar with the term fusion is a culinary term that is used to describe a blending of two cultures, or sometimes region's, cooking styles and ingredients. The result can be quite delish! The marinade for this chicken is yogurt based and has lemon, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes which are all the flavors of Greece. However, this recipe also has a healthy helping of cumin- which along with the yogurt and garlic and lemon place its flavor profile firmly back in the Middle Eastern category! 

And thus you see my dilemma. 

And thus, Fusion Chicken was born.   

Now, enough of my talking- let's get down to the recipe!

Fusion Chicken Pitas

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

1 lemon, juiced (1 1/2 T. bottled will do if you don't have fresh)

2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced

1 T. cumin

1/4 cup fresh oregano (or 1/2 T. dried)

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. salt (I use Kosher)

1/4 tsp. black pepper

3 to 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts

pitas

romaine or leaf lettuce

tomatoes, diced/sliced/wedged as you please (opt.)

cheese- feta would be good but any hard cheese grated- like brick or Jack would be fine too (I used colby as I had it on hand)

red onion, thin sliced (opt.)

1/2 cup sour cream

3/4 cup shredded English cucumber, pealed

Measure yogurt into a medium bowl.

Prep the fresh garlic.

Tip: The easiest way to do this is to place the clove on your cutting board and place your chef's knife over the clove and with a flat palm press your weight into it crushing it. This will allow you to easily remove the skin to discard it.

Repeat the same crushing action again a couple of times to break down the garlic; sprinkle a pinch or two of salt (Kosher) over the garlic and use its coarseness to grind the garlic into a paste scraping against the board and piling it up again as needed, at this point you can also run your blade through the paste several times slicing down any larger bits you find.

This should be the result:

Add the garlic and remaining ingredients to the yogurt and stir mixing everything thoroughly.

(I had to use dried oregano as the heat outside has fried my fresh garden stuff.)

Remove 1/4 cup and set aside in a larger sealable container for later. This will be the base for our dressing.

Split the chicken breasts lengthwise and add it to the marinade making sure to coat each piece well. Cover tightly or transfer to a ziplock bag and seal refrigerating 6 hours or overnight.

To make the dressing: Add the sour cream and cucumber to the reserved marinade and stir well before refrigerating. It is best to allow this to sit for an hour to combine the flavors before serving.

Grill the chicken to an internal temp of 165 degrees. If the chicken isn't quite done but the marinade is starting to burn take the chicken off and give it a quick minute in the microwave to bring it up to temp the rest of the way. Cool the chicken partially and place in the refrigerator to chill completely.

Cut the chicken in strips and set aside. Take the pitas and warm them on a low temp in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes. (If you are using 'real' pitas you will want to cut the pitas in half to open up the pockets.) Stuff the pitas with lettuce and put a little of the dressing on top, add the cheese, tomatoes and onions (if you are using) and top with chicken strips and a little more dressing. 

Eat Well!