Not your typical lunchtime sandwich! This chicken pita sandwich is topped off with a fresh, flavorful chimichurri dressing.
Sandwiches take me right back to my childhood. Growing up in Vancouver, sunny days were not as plentiful as we may have wished. When the sun broke through the clouds, Vancouverites streamed outdoors like ants headed towards the first summer picnic. On days when the sun glistened off the whitecaps of the Pacific Ocean, my mum pulled out the picnic gear and all of us set to work pulling together an oceanside feast. Sandwiches (chicken, salmon or turkey), hard-boiled eggs with packages of salt and pepper, sweet pickles, dill pickles, slices of Havarti cheese, carrot sticks and my mum's chocolate chip cookies. It was the same every time. We would have been disappointed if it wasn’t. There is comfort in tradition.
If the day was a little stormy and cloudy, we would hunker down in the car to eat our picnic, watching the Great Blue Herons (or GBHs as we call them in my family) standing stoically against the waves and the wind. As soon as the weather cleared, my dad and I scrambled for our baseball gloves and ball, and played catch on the grassy patch separating the parking lot and beach while my mum watched us from her perch on a nearby log. Years later, when my husband and I drove across the country from New York to Utah, we broke up the long days in the car by playing catch at the rest stops after eating our Subway sandwiches. I was always reminded of those days at the beach with my parents.
While we never used pita bread for our beachside picnics when I was young, I think this sandwich would have fit nicely into the mix. The leftover rotisserie chicken from the previous night's dinner was sitting in the fridge when it was time to make lunch. I chopped what was left of it and mixed the chicken with sliced hearts of palm (sold in cans in the vegetable aisle), chunks of cucumber and slightly spicy and garlicky Chimichurri dressing.
All I needed was a GBH sighting and one of my mum's chocolate chip cookies to complete the scene.
The recipe:
The dressing:
In the bowl of a food processor or a blender, combine pulse parsley, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and chile flakes. Pulse until combined, but not smooth.
With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil.
The sandwich:
In a medium bowl, stir together cucumber, hearts of palm and chicken.
Gently stir in the dressing.
Scoop the mixture into the four pita halves. Serve.
Printable Recipe
Chimichurri Chicken Pita Sandwich
Ingredients
The Dressing:
- ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¼ tablespoon kosher salt
- ¼ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ tablespoon red chile flakes
- 1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
The Sandwich:
- 1 cup roughly chopped English cucumber
- 1 cup halved and sliced hearts of palm
- 1 cup chopped cooked chicken breast
- 2 whole wheat pitas cut in half
Instructions
The Dressing:
- In the bowl of a food processor or a blender, combine pulse parsley, red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and chile flakes. Pulse until combined, but not smooth.
- With the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil.
The Sandwich:
- In a medium bowl, stir together cucumber, hearts of palm and chicken.
- Gently stir in the dressing.
- Scoop the mixture into the four pita halves. Serve.
Nutrition
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AngieA
Delicious recipe!! We made this tonight. I accidentally bought cilantro instead if parsley. We used the cilantro in place of the parsley and it was excellent. Great recipe!!! Thank u so much!
Alexis {Diva on a Diet}
I love hearts of palm, and don't have any recipes other than salads, so thank you for this! It's going in my collection now! (And P.S. I love your weight loss story! I love to see people's journeys! Congrats!)