Greek Sausage in Pita Sandwiches with Cucumber-Mint Yogurt Sauce

Name: Greek Sausage in Pita Sandwiches with Cucumber-Mint Yogurt Sauce
Yield: serves 6
Ingredients: 1 cup plain yogurt; 1 cup peeled and coarsely chopped cucumber; 1 small clove garlic, minced with 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 teaspoons shredded fresh mint leaves; 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved; 2 tablespoons shredded fresh basil leaves; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 3 cups arugula leaves; 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and cut into paper-thin rounds; 1 cup cooked chickpeas; 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 1 pound Greek Pork and Beef Sausage (page 52), formed into twelve 1 1/4-inch balls; 6 pita breads

January 24, 2012

Pita is a staple flatbread of casual Middle Eastern cuisine. Sometimes the pita has a pocket, which is opened and filled with delicious ingredients. Sometimes it has no pocket, and is merely folded over to contain the ingredients as best it can. The cooling, refreshing cucumber-laced yogurt sauce, called by many names—tzatziki in Greek, jajik in Armenian, cacik in Turkish, raita in Hindi—soothes the heat of a dish and the heat of the day. Following the Greek theme suggested by the sausage, I call for pita without a pocket. I shape the sausage into small balls and grill the balls, their aroma recalling the enticing, smoky scent that wafts from spinning souvlakis (gyros) you find in marketplaces throughout Greece.

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