Grilled Chicken Caesar

Sometimes a simple classic is all you need. Recently, The Husband requested Grilled Chicken Caesar. 

No problemo, Husband.

I like having this at home because you can control the amounts. In restaurants, it's often drenched and who knows where the dressing came from.

I use Lidia Bastianich's Caesar Salad Dressing recipe. It's my go-to. You don't need to use the whole amount of dressing for this dish. Just store the remaining dressing for use later in the week. Lidia recommends a blender or food processor for making the dressing. I always use my food processor. 

The chicken is easy to prepare. Just marinate in thyme and fresh lemon juice and olive oil. That's it.

Super simple!

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

(Makes 4 servings, with some chicken leftover)

For the chicken:

2 lbs. thin cut chicken breast (about 10-12 slices)

1 tsp. dried thyme

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

In a medium bowl, whisk together thyme, lemon zest and juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Place chicken in bowl. Massage marinade into chicken breasts so that all are evenly coated. Set aside in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes and up to 4 hours.

Preheat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken in batches (be sure to not overcrowd the pan). Grill on each side about 3-4 minutes per side. Set aside in a covered dish to keep warm. Repeat until all chicken pieces are grilled.

For the salad:

Romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped (about 6 cups)

Croutons (optional)

Caesar Salad Dressing

From Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen

By Lidia Bastianich

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, plus more for dressing the salad

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

4 cloves garlic

4 anchovy fillets

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, or as needed

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 hard-boiled egg yolk

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese,

Combine 2 Tbsp. vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and anchovies in a blender or the work bowl of a food processor. Blend until smooth smooth, adding some of the 1/3 cup olive oil if there isn't enough liquid to move the mixture around the blender jar. Add the mustard, hard-boiled egg yolk, salt, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and remaining olive oil if any. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste the dressing; if it's a little too tangy, pour in a splash or two of olive oil and blend until incorporated. 

Place romaine leaves in a large bowl, add enough dressing to coat the leaves. Add a splash of extra vinegar if you would like the dressing thinner. Toss with a few handfuls of grated cheese. Season with pepper if desired.

To serve:

Top each plate with prepared romaine leaves. Top each salad with two slices of chicken and croutons if using.

Greek Salad with Roasted Salmon

Salad for dinner is a hit in my house.

Greek Salad with Roasted Salmon is easy to prepare and a beautiful meal that has something for everyone. You can change your veggies to suit the tastes of the players in your family. An arranged salad platter makes it easy for each person dining to select the salad items that suit his or her fancy. I like to serve the dressing on the side. Be sure to serve your salad with feta. It's such a nice touch. 

I use the same dressing for the salmon marinade as well as the salad dressing. Just make sure to carefully spoon the dressing onto the salmon and don't cross contaminate by touching the salmon with your spoon. You could also divide your dressing into two portions just to be safe. You just need about 1 Tablespoon of dressing per serving of salmon. The rest can be used at the table for the salad.

I round out this dinner with homemade hummus, crudité and warmed pita. Be sure to serve your salad with feta.

This is such a fun dish to make. Your kids can help, and it's a pleasant deviation from the same ole' rotation we get into during the week!

Greek Salad with Roasted Salmon
Makes 3 to 4 servings

Greek dressing
1/2 tsp. oregano
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl combine all ingredients. Whisk vigorously. Set aside.

Salad:
Romaine lettuce, cleaned and dried, sliced into bite size pieces about 2-3 cups
1/2 English cucumber, sliced into bite size pieces
1/2 medium red bell pepper, sliced into bite size pieces
1/2 medium green bell pepper, sliced into bite size pieces
1/2 cup grape tomatoes
1/4 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, halved

To serve: Greek dressing (See above recipe) and crumbled feta cheese

On a large platter, arrange each salad ingredient side by side in a circular formation. Serve with crumbled feta cheese and remaining dressing that was not used to marinate the salmon

Salmon:
3 to 4 salmon filets with skin or without (The skin peels right off once the salmon is cooked)
2 tsp. olive oil
3-4 Tablespoons of Greek dressing (See above recipe)

Preheat oven 500 degrees Fahrenheit

Cover sheet pan with aluminum. Lightly brush with olive oil. Place salmon filets on prepared pan. Spoon a Tablespoon of dressing over each salmon filet. Using a pastry brush, brush dressing over the salmon so that the entire filet is covered. Let salmon sit for 15 minutes at room temperature. Place in oven.

Roast for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove skin from the bottom of salmon if necessary.

To serve: Place salad on a dinner plate. Top with dressing and feta cheese. Top with warm salmon.

It's All Greek to Me

So if you're a Greek food purist/snob you may want to click elsewhere. For all others: Welcome to my riveting post re: Gyros Gone Jersey Girl Wild.

Straight away, I will warn you: My tzatziki sauce is missing cucumbers. This is no fault of my own but rather a deliberate decision in making sure that The Husband eats the tzatziki sauce. You may remember from previous posts (since I know all 10 of you have been following my blogging career for YEARS), The Husband has a thing "with," or I should say "against" cucumbers. And mayo. And shopping. And mushrooms. Don't even get me started with the mushrooms.

So I lovingly placed the cucumbers on the side so that me and the kiddo would would get some of that fresh crunchiness action up on our gyro creations while making The Husband happy.

See that. I'm all about the compromise.

In addition, I'm 99 percent sure that in real life I mispronounce all of, well the two Greek words that we are using today: gyro and tzatziki (which, if we're being honest here, tzatziki is also a bitch to spell. And it just made me break my swear word policy on my blog. Sorry, Jesus.)

Aaaaand finally, my son, bless his 3-year-old hungry hungry belly, lovingly referred to our perfectly warm pitas filled with delicious lemony marinated shaved pork, cool tzatziki sauce, salty feta and fresh veggies, veggies and more veggies as "tacos." Ie, "Mommy, can I please have more tacos?" and "These tacos taste yummy" and "I love tacos."

Naturally, I went with his whole narrative.

"Sure, Baby Doll. Tacos IT IS!"

This was really easy breezy to make. And it does get a ton of veggies down the gullets of your family. And, honestly. Who doesn't love a taco, I mean gyro?

Below is the recipe for my sauce. And then, I'm listing the recipe for the Old Neighborhood Shaved Pork Gyro recipe that I found on Pinterest.  It is on the Old Neighborhood Web site as well. In an uncanny stroke of luck, my ghetto Shop Rite actually carries the Old Neighborood Shaved Meat products. Yay!

Feel free to serve these bad boys with all sorts of veggies and toppings. We did red peppers, cucumbers, plum tomatoes, romaine and feta. You could totally do hummus, olives, peppers of varying colors, scallions, fresh herbs, etc. Woo-hoo!

I didn't serve these in a traditional gyro roll-up style. I kinda just cut the pitas in half and stuffed them. Top Chef plating, it is not.

Gyro toppings: Tzatziki sauce, cucumbers, red bell peppers, red onions.

And more toppings: plum tomatoes, feta cheese, romaine.

Beneath that rainbow of veggie amazingness is some tasty shaved pork. Honest.

Here's my little man loving a ride on the Boardwalk in Ocean City. 
That smile is gold!

Tzatziki Sorta Sauce
10 ounces Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
Parsley, chopped
2 scallion greens, minced
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and gently stir together with a spoon until well blended. Refrigerate if made well ahead.

Shaved Pork Gyros from Old Neighborhood Shaved Pork
By Susan Chan

1 1-lb. package of Old Neighborhood Shaved Pork
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. cumin
3 tbsp. lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper to taste
tzatziki sauce (see ingredients & recipe below)
pita bread
olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
1 tomato, cut into strips
Lettuce leaves
Crumbled feta

Marinate the Shaved Pork with 1 tbsp. oregano, 1 tbsp. cumin, 3 tbsp. lemon juice, minced garlic clove, salt, and pepper for at least 30 minutes. I left the amount of salt and pepper to your discretion, but if you need a point of reference, I used 1 tsp. salt with 2 tsp. black pepper.

If you are making the tzatziki sauce yourself, mix all of the tzatziki ingredients together, and set it aside in the fridge.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Add 2 tsp. of olive oil. Add the shaved pork.

Cook the pork for about 4-5 minutes, or until the meat is thoroughly cooked.

In a separate pan, heat ½ tsp. of olive oil. Lightly toast one pita bread.

Remove the pita from the pan, and place it on a dish.

Remove the tzatziki sauce from the fridge.

Place one lettuce leaf in the center of the pita.

Add tomato strips, onion slices, and cooked shaved pork.  The amount added is dependent on how full you would like each gyro.

Top with feta cheese and some tzatziki sauce. For the tzatziki sauce that appeared with this recipe on the Old Neighborhood Foods Web site, click here.)

Fold the sides of the pita towards the center.

(optional) Wrap with foil or parchment paper to hold the gyro in place.

Repeat steps for each gyro.

Serve and enjoy!