All things hummus...

Abigail and I love all things hummus-y, tahini-y, falafels, pita bread, yogurt sauce, Greek salad etc. The San Francisco Chronicle had some wonderful recipes in it on Sunday but the one I wanted to try first was the Greek Chicken Flatbread sandwiches by Amanda Gold for just that reason. http://www.sfgate.com/food/recipes/detail.html?p=detail&rid=18749&sorig=qs
We were not disappointed and Mike was a happy participant. Now I want to make falafels.

Greek Chicken Flatbread Sandwiches my

The dressing/marinade:

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, peeled, cored and pressed
Kosher salt and freshly ground ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup olive oil

The sandwich:

2 small chicken breast halves, cut into strips
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
1 cup ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved if small
4 small minced scallions, white and green parts
whole wheat flatbread or pita pockets, warmed in low oven
homemade artichoke hummus
1/3 cup tahini
1 - 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 clove garlic, peeled, cored and pressed

Optional:
hot sauce
crumbled feta cheese
sliced avocado

Preheat the oven to about 400 degrees.

Whisk together the lemon juice, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper and the olive oil in a small Pyrex measuring cup together until emulsified.

Set aside 1/4 cup of the vinaigrette to dress the salad. Place the chicken in a baking dish, and pour the remaining dressing over it; let marinate for about 15-20 minutes or overnight.

Combine the cucumber, tomatoes and scallions, and toss with the 1/4 cup vinaigrette. Set aside.

Bake chicken for about 15-20 minutes, until cooked through.

Combine tahini, lemon juice and garlic with several tablespoons of water. Heat over low heat and whisk until combined.

Spread some hummus on a piece of flatbread. Top with some cucumber salad and chicken strips, and drizzle with tahini sauce. Add hot sauce, feta and avocado if you like. Wrap up to eat.

The feta and avocado were Abigail's idea (that's my girl!). The hot sauce was one of mine.

I made hummus using the recipe on my blog and added half a jar of grilled, marinated artichoke hearts, http://www.mezzetta.com/artichokes/, and half a can of artichoke bottoms. I used the food processor to chop them up and to combine them into the hummus.

Mike said it was his favorite hummus ever and we all loved the sandwiches. It was fun to make them and experiment with different fillings. We each had 2. I want to do something similar with falafels. I love these ingredients and flavors and could eat them every day. Enjoy!

Update 07/31/11: I made artichoke hummus again today and tweaked it a bit. I added 1 raw garlic clove to give it a bite and several nice shakes of Frank's Hot Sauce. These additions added a nice depth of flavor.