Greek Chicken With Cucumber-Feta Salad

Greek Chicken With Cucumber-Feta Salad

This meal has the flavors of a Greek combination plate with chicken souvlaki, Greek salad and tzatziki, but it is streamlined for the home cook. Boneless chicken thighs are coated with herby, garlicky yogurt, then seared until tender inside and crusty and browned outside. Extra yogurt dresses cucumbers and tomatoes that have had a chance to drain with salt so they taste their most vivid. Feta and olives add briny bites to the creamy, crunchy salad, but feel free to incorporate other elements of Greek salad or tzatziki, like romaine lettuce, bell peppers, mint or dill, toasted walnuts or thinly sliced red onion. Eat with lemon potatoes or toasted pita.

Yield: 4 servings

1 ½ cups plain Greek yogurt

3 garlic cloves, finely grated

Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

Black pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano or mint

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, patted dry

1 ½ pounds cucumbers (preferably Japanese, Persian or mini, seedless cucumbers)

1 pound ripe tomatoes

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

4 ounces feta, crumbled (about ¾ cup)

½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and halved

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt and garlic; season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer ½ cup of the yogurt to a medium bowl and reserve for Step 5.

Coat the chicken: To the large bowl, add the oregano and stir to combine. Season the chicken all over with 1 ½ teaspoons salt and a few grinds of pepper. Add the chicken to the large bowl and turn to coat; set aside.

Start the salad: Smash the cucumbers with the side of your knife until craggy and split. Rip into ½- to 1-inch pieces and transfer to a colander placed in the sink. Slice or chop the tomatoes into bite-size pieces. Add to the cucumbers along with 1 ½ teaspoons salt. (It may seem like a lot of salt, but most will drain away.) Toss to combine and leave to drain.

In a large nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium. Scrape excess marinade off the chicken, then cook the chicken in batches, adding oil to the pan if necessary, until it’s well browned and releases from the pan, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip and cook until cooked through, another 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to plates to rest. (For grilling info, see Tip.)

To the medium bowl of yogurt, add the feta and mash with a fork until a chunky paste forms. Shake the cucumbers and tomatoes to get rid of any excess moisture. Add to the feta yogurt along with the olives and stir until coated. The balance is dependent on your produce and feta, so season to taste with salt and pepper until flavors are vivid. Eat alongside the chicken.

Tip: To grill the chicken: Heat a grill to medium and clean and grease the grates. Grill the chicken over direct heat until it's well browned and releases from the grates, 5 to 7 minutes. Flip and cook until cooked through, another 5 to 7 minutes. (For a gas grill, close the lid between flips.)

baked the chicken on a sheet pan at 400

I do a similar meal often. I like to add turmeric to my marinade for both the color and the health benefits and always add an acid too such as lemon, lime and sometimes orange zest. Sometimes I add a little cumin for a warm flavor or even chilli powder for some smokeyness. This is a great base recipe to make your own.

Made this as written and it is fabulous (400 degree oven instead of stovetop). Took a leftover piece of chicken and cut it up and added to the leftover cucumber-feta salad for lunch leftovers! This recipe could easily be a cold Greek chicken salad.

My favorite method for cooking yogurt-marinated chicken is the broiler: on top of a wire rack in a foil-lined sheet pan, 8 minutes per side. Great char and juicy. That worked well here, as did the juice of half a lemon in the salad. I served it all wrapped up in a flour tortilla and look forward to the leftovers. Dill would be nice here, too.