Greek Wraps (A DT2C Original!)

There are a few things that just taste FRESH.  One?  Pico de gallo.  I wish I had the knife skills to pull that one off adequately.  The other?  Anything and everything greek.

Okay, despite the title it’s not like I invented the concept of a wrap, or a greek wrap to be even more specific.  My definition of an ‘Original’ is a meal that I make with only slight reference to a posted recipe, usually to confirm a hunch or spice pairing.  With that said, when you have a pack of flour tortillas that is still open and left over from the last appearance of fan favourite “Taco Night”, you’ve gotta come up with something to appease the hungry masses.  Or at least 3 kids that are well on their way to getting hangry.  Combine that with (as I’ve previously documented) an overabundance of pork tenderloin from a killer deal at the local grocery-monger (that’s a naming convention that really just went away, isn’t it?  Black Panther rivals notwithstanding…) and you have the makings of something fun and fresh.

Garlic, lemon and oregano are the ‘holy trinity’ of greek flavour.  A quick google gave me a marinade by Bobby Flay that I completely shoehorned into what ingredients I had on hand.

• 4 cloves garlic, chopped.   [I substituted 2 tsps of crushed garlic from a jar]
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced.  [I substituted 4 tablespoons of ‘real lemon’ juice]
• 2 tablespoons chopped oregano leaves.  [2 tbs dried oregano]
• 1/2 cup canola oil.  [I used that.  I think they’d kick me out of Saskatchewan if there wasn’t a ready supply of canola oil in the pantry at all times]

Slap your tenderloin in that, get it nice and comfy, cover it a let it sit for at least an hour before you start cooking it.  I seared the tenderloin in a frying pan to seal in the juices and then baked at 380 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I pulled a bonehead move and had the bakeware situated on the top rack – could have sped up that process by putting it closer to the bottom element.  You could BBQ that if you like (Meat+Fire=GOOD).  If I were doing this one again, I’d honestly chop up the loin into strips or cubes and just fry everything up in the trinity to speed up the process and add a little crusty char/sear onto the meat.  That’s the meat, so what goes with it?  Whatever you want!

Here’s what I wound up with as handy guideline.

• 1/4 spanish (yellow) onion diced [red onion would have been better]
• 1/4 long english cucumber sliced about 1.5cm thick and then chopped up into easily chewable chunks [I loathe cucumber…in every situation except greek.  It’s a MUST.]
• 1/2 tomato.  Chop it up, slightly bigger chunks than the cucumber.
• Feta cheese.  It’s a great way to add on some calories.  I got the LIGHT version and my Wife tells me every little cm x cm cube counts as 70 calories.  I wouldn’t know because that would require reading the nutrition info.
• Olives.  I had a little tin of sliced black olives.  Again, kalamata would have been ‘better’, but your call on that.  These cost $1, the kalamata ones were quite a bit more than that.
• 1 head romaine lettuce.  I find cutting it across into thin strips works better when using in a wrap.

I’m a pretty big fan of wraps for family meals as it lets everybody customize and build-their-own.  On the whole, we didn’t do too badly on this one.  4 out of 5 thumbs up, with the abstention being our ‘picky eater’ who really just wanted to go for the meat on a tortilla.  Honestly, that’s fine.  We have a rule at our house (and especially when “Dad” is getting a little experimental…) at any time a kid can ‘tap out’ and go for a peanut butter sandwich.  We’d love them to at least TRY a bite before doing so….that’s not always the case.  It stings.  I’ll live.

Budget wise?  This one worked out something like so:

• Pork tenderloin – $3 (that was a crazy deal…I should have bought more)
• Feta – $4 (but we only used about 1/3 of the tub)
• Romaine head – $1.25 (got a 5 pack at Costco for $6)
• Tomato – $1.25 (used 1/2)
• Onion – $1 (used 1/4)
• Cucumber – $1.50 (used 1/4)
• Olives – $1 (used about 1/2 the can)
• Wraps – I’d guess about $2? They were left over from Taco Night

$8.63?  Thereabouts?  Little bit of meat leaf, and some veggies in the fridge that I’ll need to ponder how to polish off in the next day or two.  Maybe a greek salad as a side dish?  Might need to hit up google and see how to kill a cucumber.  Sorry Larry.  Nothing personal.

-g

Oh!  For some folks it ain’t greek without the tzatzik.  (I know it’s tzatziki, but that didn’t rhyme).  I’ll save you some googling and list a recipe for that here.1 cup Greek whole milk yogurt.