I’ve written about gyros before in this article. I stand by it.
While making the gyro meat is a bit tedious using the food processor and not having an expensive rotisserie device in my possession, the lamb loaf comes out perfect and delicious.
If you haven’t seen that one, here are the links to the article on the gyro and the replacement pita bread you will need to make it:
https://www.mysaline.com/shirtless-gyro/
Sometimes, though, I get a craving for the tzatziki sauce and warm wraps without having to go to all the trouble of buying some grass fed lamb, running it through the food processor, and baking the loaf. I just want a quick and easy gyro and not have the hassle. Then I think about the lamb itself…
No way I am eating that face.?
I have enough guilt from life as it is.
Chicken it is.
They are dumb and ugly.? Relatively speaking, anyway. Now, before all you chicken lovers send me hate mail with all your misspelled words and syntax structure that would leave even Yoda wondering what you were smoking, I don’t really think chickens are dumb and ugly. They are fine animals that deserve to roam free and peck away to their heart’s content. They are only dumb and ugly compared to a lamb.
Like how I feel ok about myself until I watch a Thor movie.
This is where buying normal, slow growth chicken that doesn’t look like something that came off an ostrich really helps. I buy Cooks Venture whenever possible. They are an Arkansas company raising truly pasture roaming birds that aren’t oversized mutant monster birds.
The taste is much better, the meat isn’t riddled with the fatty white stripe deposits of other “cage free organic” labeled chicken you will see in the mega-marts. Those labels are misleading and mean nothing, other than tricking you into overpaying for the same exact chicken as the cheap stuff.
If you do buy the industry standard prison chicken, you will need to pound down your Godzilla breasts until they are thin and flat. Good luck with not turning them into mush. As for all the fatty white stripes, there’s nothing that can be done about that problem.
If you do buy true pasture-raised normal growth birds, you won’t have to worry about either, as the chicken breasts are naturally thin enough and the meat is healthy. You’ll find the tzatziki sauce recipe and everything else you will need for gyros on the two links posted earlier in the article. All we are adding here is a marinade for the chicken and a different cooking technique.
Is it as good as the lamb version? Well, no, but they are delicious in their own right, and much easier to prepare. And you don’t have to feel guilty thinking about the cute fuzz face you just sent through a processor. It’s a good thing chickens can’t smile.
Chicken gyro
Ingredients:
1 package pasture raised chicken breasts
1 yellow onion, as large as you can find
100 grams plain greek yogurt
Zest of 1/2 juice of a lemon
1/2 tsp dried parsley, oregano, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried chives
Instructions:
Trim the chicken breasts and sprinkle with some salt and pepper.
Mix the marinade ingredients and place in a gallon freezer bag. Add the chicken and squeeze around to coat the chicken. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours:
Slice the onion into thick slices. Think onion ring slices. They will act as stands for the chicken as it roasts:
Heat the oven to 400 degrees and place the onion stands on a roasting pan. Place a chicken breast on each one and cook for 20 minutes or until the temp hits 170. Then hit with the broiler on high for a few minutes to char the top of the chicken:
Cover with foil and let rest for five minutes, then slice:
Serve along with the ingredients from the two linked articles for gyros:
See the list of all the Shirtless Chef recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.