Greek Chicken With Cucumber-Feta Salad

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This was really scrumptious. From NY Times Cooking.


Ingredients 

1 ½ cups plain Greek yogurt
3 garlic cloves, finely grated (I actually used 5 and would recommend)
Kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)
Black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano or mint (let's say AND mint)
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, patted dry
1 ½ pounds cucumbers (preferably Japanese, Persian or mini, seedless cucumbers)
1 pound ripe tomatoes (grape tomatoes were nice)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
4 ounces feta, crumbled (about 3/4 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 1/2 cup of the yogurt to a medium bowl and reserve as the salad dressing.

Coat the chicken: To the large bowl, add the oregano and stir to combine. I also used some freeze-dried mint. Season the chicken all over with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and a few grinds of pepper. Add the chicken to the large bowl and turn to coat; set aside. Marinate - it doesn't specify how long. I did it for about 3 hours.

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. Why? The surface area was really great to hold the dressing unlike diced cucumbers where sometimes the dressing slides off. I had mini cucumbers and broke them apart with my hands into shaggy pieces.

Slice or chop the tomatoes into bite-size pieces.

Sprinkle tomatoes and cucumbers 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. I tossed them in a colander and set it over a bowl, and drained them for about an hour.

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. Or, to grill the chicken: Heat a grill to medium and clean and grease the grates. Also scrape excess marinade off chicken. 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.)

For the dressing: To your saved 1/2 cup of yogurt, add the feta and mash with a fork until a chunky paste forms. I did not do this, but merely crumbled the feta in. Up to you! 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. Season to taste with salt and pepper until flavors are vivid - I found the cucumbers and tomatoes plenty salty, but not overly so. It didn't call for oregano to be added to the dressing, but I added oregano and dried mint as well.

Serve with pita - or something like lemon roasted potatoes.

Pita tip: put your pita in a piece of tinfoil (you can stack them) and drizzle with olive oil. Seal up the packet, and put it on the back of the bbq where it isn't in too much contact with the grill. Or, put it in the oven. When ready to serve, I also put a little bit of butter on each one. There were some crispy edges of pita, and the middle was a bit softer - yum!

I also served with a lemon wedge, and put the salad-y stuff, with the cut up chicken, in the pita.

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