An Easy-Peasy Middle Eastern Wrap by Foodie’s Chef Laura Brennan

      

July 28, 2022

Becoming a confident cook includes developing the ability to choose excellent store-bought ingredients and using them with creativity and finesse. For example, to make this sandwich a bit more substantial and delicious, and of course quicker & easier to prepare, I added diced fresh plum tomatoes, diced cucumbers, feta cheese, chickpeas, olive oil and a touch of lemon to a
pint container of our Bay Sweets Market Tabouli Salad. I also chose our Bay Sweets black olive flavored hummus as a spread and then marched over to our deli and grabbed ready-grilled chicken skewers. I added a few chopped dill pickles (or use sliced pepperoncini peppers), wrapped it up tightly in a 10-inch flour tortilla wrap and sliced it in half. The tortilla flour wrap is sturdy, and this sandwich will hold together if you are thinking of taking it on the road. (Yes...beach food!)

  • Prep: 1 hrs
  • Cook: 1 hrs
  • Yields: 4 wraps

Ingredients

½ pint Bay Sweets black olive hummus (or your choice of flavor)

1 pint Bay Sweets Market prepared tabouli salad

2-3 plum tomatoes, washed and dried

½ cup cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained

About ¾ cup diced cucumber from I medium peeled and seeded cucumber

2 ounces feta cheese (preferably sheep and/or goat’s milk), small dice or crumbled

Optional spice: add 1 teaspoon za’atar spice mix

1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

Squirt of fresh lemon juice

½ to 1 teaspoon kosher salt

1lb. cooked, chilled chicken breast, preferably grilled (I used grilled chicken skewers)

2 tablespoons chopped dill pickles or pepperoncini peppers

Optional: 1 ½ cups shredded iceberg lettuce, from ½ small head iceberg lettuce

4-each 10-inch tortilla wraps, any flavor (white, wheat, tomato or spinach)

Directions

Begin by prepping the tomatoes, chickpeas, cucumber, pickles and lettuce Empty the container of tabouli into a large bowl. Set aside. Remove the core of the plum tomatoes with the point of a paring knife. Discard core. Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the seeds. Discard seeds. Cut each tomato half into 3 ‘strips’ (that is; cut lengthwise) and cut each strip across into small, diced pieces. Add all the diced tomatoes to the bowl of tabouleh.

Peel and cut the cucumber in half. Scoop out the seeds with a small spoon by running it down the center of each cucumber half and scraping out the seeds. (I find I do this even if I am using ‘seedless’ cukes—they are a bit firmer and have less seedy pulp, but they still have seeds.) Cut the cucumber halves into 2-3 pieces lengthwise and then cut each strip across into small dice. Measure

out about ¾ cup of diced cucumbers and add to the tabouli bowl. (Save the rest of the cucumbers for another use.) Add the rinsed and drained chickpeas to a separate bowl and lightly mash with the back of a spoon.

Add them to the tabouli bowl. (I mash the chickpeas so they will be a bit easier to eat and so won’t easily fall out of the sandwich.) Add the diced or crumbled feta cheese to the tabouli bowl and gently stir to combine all the ingredients. Drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of teaspoons of fresh lemon juice over the salad and mix well.

Sprinkle in the za’atar spice mix if using. If you think it needs some salt, add a pinch of kosher salt and mix in gently. Cut the head of the iceberg lettuce in half and then cut one of the halves into 2-quarter pieces. Shred one or two of these quarter pieces by slicing across into thin-thin ribbons, about 1/8th inch thick. Set the shredded lettuce aside in another clean bowl. Have the diced pickles or pepperoncini ready as well. Slice the grilled/cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add to a clean bowl. Drizzle with a teaspoon or two of olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside. Toast the tortilla wraps (one at a time) on a low-fire grill, or in the oven or on top of the stove over two low-fired burners. The idea is to soften the wraps just a bit to make them more pliable for wrapping up all the fillings.

Build the sandwiches:,

Open the container of hummus and give it a stir (and a taste, of course!) Have at the ready the bowl of tabouli salad and the diced/sliced chicken, the pickles/pepperoncini and the shredded lettuce. Build one sandwich at-a-time. Lay one tortilla wrap down on a clean cutting board. Spread with 2-3 tablespoons of hummus. Spread, leaving a 1-inch clean edge all the way around. Next spread out about ½ cup of tabouli salad on top. Spread ¼ of the amount of cooked chicken down the center and finish with 1-2 tablespoons of diced pickles or pepperoncini. Finally, layer a scant ½ cup of shredded lettuce on top of the pickles/pepperoncini.

Now you are ready to roll-up the wrap: tuck in the edges as you roll into a tight cylinder. Refrigerate while you roll the other three wraps. If eating immediately, cut each wrap in half or keep the plate of wraps refrigerated before cutting and serving.

The tighter you can roll the wrap while keeping all the ingredients inside the roll, the more satisfying (and less messy!) the sandwich will be to eat.

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