Chicken Gyro Platter
It is not incidental that our spirits stir in springtime; it
is intrinsic. The Earth is awakening, and we as children of the earth feel this rumbling ancient rhythm. Buds appear on branches dormant just weeks
ago, while creatures from migrating birds and insects to the family pet exhibit
an uptake in mischievous energy. We are creatures of sky as well as earth, and
for every day of sunshine and breezes there is a day of shadows and storms. In
Southern California, we are experiencing our usual spring of warm days and
chill nights, of lemon blossoms and the return of the ravens. The outdoor
furniture is coming out of the dry dock of garages, carports, storage units in
anticipation of patio lunches and twilight cocktails, and gardeners
professional to avocational are refreshing top soil, reseeding carpets of green
lawn, digging holes for spring bulbs.
I cannot help but think of my family of friends in the
northeast. It seems as if every day on social media, posts appear about the
bone-weariness of a winter that lingers
a bit too long, of snow drifts and sludge, of the thwarted desire for
springtime frolic. I think of my old neighborhood of Astoria where, as I lived it for twelve years and as I've written about so often, spring is such an important season, April is such an important month, Easter is such an important holiday.
One of my first assignments as a lifestyle writer was discussing
the tradition of Greek Easter Bread. Since then, April often has found me
writing about Greek cooking, which I believe one really cannot do absent the context
of springtime. As reflected in its signature ingredients -- lamb, lemons,
garlic, honey, dairy, herbs --springtime provides not just the perspective for Greek
cooking but its essence. Accordingly, I've published stories about and recipes
for sticky-sweet baklava, smooth-tart avgolemono, more obscure but phenomenal dishes of Greek green beans and potatoes with sumac, even a hearty Greek salad.
Any Astorian will tell you that just as spring is the
firmament of seasonal living in Astoria, the Neptune Diner is the locus of
daily living. For years, the 'tune was our ground zero -- literally, as we
lived three blocks from it. It is right off of the train platform, as easy to
stop by on the way home as walking down a couple of flights of stairs. The Neptune anchored our lives for over a decade. For years, it was a Friday night
ritual for our family of friends to "meet at the 'tune" for family dinner, a tradition that anchored us at the end of hectic weeks and revived us
in preparation for the hustle of weekends.
The Neptune ritually fed John and I our
first breakfast on New Year's Day, and we and our guests usually managed at
least one brunch there during Pride Weekend. John and I had our first dinner as
Astorians at the Neptune, the day we signed our lease, and when I packed up our apartment for the move out west, on the evening that the moving van rolled away
I ate dinner alone at the Neptune. I was served by
Frankie, the world's most attentive, least sober, courtliest and wisest waiter
and a true treasure of a human being. He comped my last meal as a New Yorker and
I overtipped him for the last time as one. Everything after that is a sleepless
blur until I found myself settling into my seat on a westbound jet and snapping
one last picture of the tarmac at JFK. It was one of the most profound
departures of my life.
As a good diner's should, the Neptune's menu unfolds in
page after laminated page. All of the classics are there, all of them rendered
well: breakfast all day, cheeseburgers with fries, hot plates of meat loaf or
roast turkey, cups of soup with grilled cheese or a BLT, rice pudding, coffee,
pie. Like most diners, the menu also showcases regional specialties such as egg
creams along with house specialties that reflect the Greek culture of Astoria. There
is pastitsio and skordalia and fried smelts and birds nests and briny black
olives and a bottle of ouzo behind the register for a farewell opa!
To that menu and to the countless nights with family, I
herewith raise a bottomless cup of diner coffee to Carrie, Paul, Marin, Blake,
Kat, Douglas, Alma, Dave, Lissa, William, Jeff, Gail, Jacob, Madelyn, Katie, Earl, Sue, The
Three Johns, Ali, Karen, Ben, Peter, Ann, Bridget, Jenn, and most of all to Frankie,
to Greg, to Ludmilla, and to the owners and staff of the Neptune. In honor of those people,
those days, that menu, that place, here is one of our favorite dinners in our
urban home, inspired by the keynote experience of eating dinner at the Neptune:
a chicken gyro platter all the way with tzatziki, grilled pita, olives and feta. The chicken is pan-grilled in deference to ease of home cooking. While this Sunday Supper is a hearty meal in and of itself, is wonderful accompanied, Neptunelike, by bowls of avgolemono and finished with a big piece of baklava. Opa!
Chicken Gyro Platter
The best Greek groceries will be available in a Mediterranean
or gourmet market, but supermarket ingredients should be fine for this
recipe. Olives, whether from a cold case or a food bar, should smell fresh and
briny and evidence no white or gray bloom. Feta should be sold in chunks and
packaged in salt water. If you cannot easily locate fenugreek, order it from an
online spice supplier such as Penzeys.
For the chicken
Two large boneless chicken breasts
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 medium cloves garlic
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons fenugreek
Freshly ground black pepper
Hot red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the tzatziki
3 medium cucumbers
1 bunch fresh dill
1 lemon
1 small white onion
3 medium cloves garlic
8 ounces plain yogurt, preferably Greek, 0-2% fat
Sour cream
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt
For the table
4 - 6 pockets pita bread
1 strip fresh rosemary
1/3 - 1/2 pound mixed olives
1 1/2 pound block Feta
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper
Drain the cucumbers
- Position an in-sink colander into place.
- Peel the cucumbers so that no green remains. Remove the stem and blossom ends from the cucumbers.
- Cut each cucumber in half lengthways. Use a teaspoon to remove the seeds and pith.
- Put on a cut-resistant mesh glove. Working carefully, hold each cucumber half at an angle, cut side down, against the large holes of a box grater. Grate all of the cucumber halves over the in-sink colander. The cucumber will get slick as you grate, so work carefully.
- Sprinkle the grated cucumber generously with salt. Gently shake the colander to mix the salt and cucumber together. Leave the colander in place a minimum of four hours to drain the cucumbers, shaking the colander a couple of times during to be sure to express as much moisture as possible.
- Position a large zippered plastic food bag in a medium bowl and open the bag. Carefully measure the olive oil and lemon juice into the bag. Peel and press the garlic cloves into the oil-lemon mixture. Add the dried oregano, salt, several grindings of fresh black pepper, and a shake of red pepper flakes to the mixture in the bag.
- Working one chicken breast at a time, carefully use a sharp knife to remove any filmy white membranes or red splotches from the chicken. Carefully cut the chicken breast lengthways into strips about 1/2 inch wide. Carefully cut across the strips to form chunked about 1/2 inch wide.
- Gently transfer the chunked chicken to the bag containing the marinade. Press the bag tightly together and zip it closed, holding the least amount of air possible inside the bag.
- Massage all of the ingredients in the bag together so that all of the chicken is coated in the marinade.
- Place the marinating chicken in the refrigerator overnight, or for a minimum of four hours.
- Transfer the yogurt to a large mixing bowl.
- Peel the garlic cloves and press them into the yogurt. Use a silicon spatula to stir the mixture so that it is smooth and fragrant.
- Cut the lemon in half crossways. Use a lemon press or a glass juicer to strain the juice from the lemon halves through a small mesh sieve into the yogurt-garlic mixture. Use the silicon spatula to stir the mixture until it is smooth, shiny and very fragrant.
- Peel, cut and dice half of the onion. Measure 2/3 cup diced onion into the yogurt mixture.
- Working a couple of handfuls at a time, add the shredded, drained cucumber to the yogurt mixture. Stir after each addition just to incorporate. Keep going until you have added all of the shredded, drained cucumber - it is okay if the mixture is somewhat thick.
- Lay the dill onto a cutting board. Remove and discard any thick stems while reserving the fronds. Carefully use a knife or an herb chopper to cut the dill into tiny pieces. Transfer the dill to the yogurt-cucumber mixture.
- Measure the olive oil into the bowl containing the cucumber-yogurt-dill mixture.
- Use the silicon spatula to gently incorporate the mixture. It should be thick and very fragrant.
- Add enough sour cream (typically about 3 tablespoons) to the mixture to achieve a spreadable, though still somewhat thick, consistency.
- Cover the bowl containing the tzatziki with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Position a wire mesh strainer over a large bowl. Empty the contents of the marinating bag through the sieve so that the marinating liquid drains into the bowl.
- Place a two count of olive oil into a grill pan or ceramic-coated skillet. Swirl the pan to coat it with olive oil. Turn the burner to medium-high.
- Separate the pita into halves by cutting across the circle to form a half moon. Grill the pita in the hot pan for a couple of seconds on each side. Place the grilled pita in a pie tin or on a cookie sheet and keep the pita warm in an oven set to 200 degrees F.
- Reduce the burner heat to medium. Carefully add the marinated chicken to the pan. Shake the pan gently to distribute the chicken and to keep it from sticking.
- Sprinkle the fenugreek on the chicken.
- Cook the chicken, stirring as needed, until nicely grilled, approximately 6 minutes. If the pan runs dry, add a bit of the marinating liquid to the pan.
- While the chicken is cooking, remove the feta from its container and place the feta on a rimmed plate or in a shallow bowl. Drizzle the feta with a two count of olive oil. Strip the rosemary leaves onto the oiled feta, and sprinkle the oiled feta with a few grinds of fresh black pepper.
- Place the oiled feta, marinated olives, warmed pita, tzatziki, and grilled chicken on the table for everyone to build their gyro however they want. Opa!
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