Greek Salad Tray Bake UPDATED
plus PERFECT quinoa and PERFECT tzatziki
This one pan chicken dinner has been on repeat at my house. It’s fast, I often have all the ingredients and it lends it’s really well to “make ahead”. I’ve tweaked the method section of the recipe to cut down on the dirty dishes. And I’m now making quinoa and tzatziki to serve it with. The quinoa soaks up all the delicious juices and the tzatziki is just a delicious layer. You can see the new and improved recipe at the bottom of this email. It’s visible to paid subscribers.
Perfectly fluffy quinoa
Here’s how I make quinoa and I think it’s perfect. This is enough to serve 4 people. Even if you’re serving less, make the whole recipe and keep the leftovers in the fridge. It’s a great addition to a salad or even stirred into oatmeal.
In a small saucepan with a tight fitting lid, bring 1 3/4 cups water, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon olive oil to a boil.
Add 1 cup dry quinoa. Reduce to the lowest simmer setting, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
Turn the heat off and let stand covered for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
Perfect Tzatziki
We went to Greece a few years ago and we stayed on a lesser known island, Sifnos, that is known for it’s food. The food and lack of tourists was the draw. Pre-Greek vacation I made a pretty good tasting tzatziki. But I was always adding things like dill, lemon and even a tiny pinch of cinnamon. Then we had tzatziki in Greece and discovered the sheer bliss of it’s authentic simplicity. Yogurt, garlic, salt, cucumbers and thats it. Maybe a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and an olive on top for garnish. I came back from that trip and I’ve never made it any other way since. I’ve written it in ounces because thats how yogurt is packaged. Fage sells their yogurt in 5.3 ounce cups and it’s totally fine to use one of those rather than the suggested 6 ounces. The higher quality the yogurt you use, the better your tzatziki will be. My favorite brand for this and general consumption is Stoney field Organic OR Wallaby Organic Whole Milk Greek. Here’s how I do it:
Grate 1/4 of an english cucumber (skin on) on the larger holes of a box grater. Put that into a seive or colander and press down to get the majority of the water out. Add to a medium bowl.
Add 6 ounces of full fat Greek yogurt to the bowl.
Grate 1 small garlic clove into the bowl and season with 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
Stir everything together and taste.
serves 4