What to make when you want a giant sandwich but need a salad

Hello, chicken gyro chopped salad.

View in browser|nytimes.com August 22, 2024 Kia Damon's chicken gyro chopped salad. Julia Gartland for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Will it salad? If it's a chicken gyro, yes. By Mia Leimkuhler When I'm really hungry but know I should eat something green because breakfast was two chocolate chip cookies and lunch was cold pizza, a fun dinner game I play is "Will it salad?" The premise is simple: Can I turn the thing I really want to eat (tacos, a bagel and cream cheese, falafel, more pizza) into a salad? The answer is usually yes — I just need to mix the main characters with lettuce or tender leafy greens and stretch the sauce element into a dressing. But it helps to have guidance so I get the perfect proportions, which is why I'm thankful for Kia Damon's new chicken gyro chopped salad. The key gyro components — seared, assertively seasoned meat, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers, a creamy tzatziki-style dressing — are piled on crunchy, refreshing romaine. Pita bread's here, too, as crispy pita chips. If you want to make your meal vegetarian, swap in firm tofu or cauliflower for the chicken. Chicken gyro — it does salad! Featured Recipe Chicken Gyro Chopped Salad View Recipe → Another dinner game I've been playing lately is "Can I use summer produce to offset my anxiety about how quickly we're sliding into the end of the year?" I'm happy to share that I'm winning that game, too (for now). Kia's roasted shrimp with okra and tomatoes is on my to-cook list, mostly because it looks terrifically simple but also because I recently discovered that I do, in fact, like okra. This helpful tip from Kia explains why I wasn't so keen on it before: "When choosing okra, go for the smaller-to-medium size pods. The bigger the okra, the more likely it is to be stringy and tough." Almost exactly a year ago, my colleague Tanya Sichynsky shared Kay Chun's eggplant dal in a Veggie newsletter dedicated to eggplant skeptics, and I've been making it ever since. Stewing cubed eggplant with garlic, ginger, chile, cumin, coriander and red lentils is a great way to disguise it from finicky eaters or, as I did the other night, use up an eggplant that's a bit past its prime. I also recently made Ali Slagle's caramelized zucchini pasta — something of a summertime standard here at New York Times Cooking — and it was such a delight. I forgot how magical it is to turn a metric ton of vegetables into a rich, deeply flavorful jam with just time and lazy stirring. It'll be nice to work that sorcery again for this caramelized fennel pasta from Carolina Gelen. Anytime I watch a Ham El-Waylly video, I immediately want to make whatever he's cooking. I think this is because 1. Ham is exceptional at explaining how to cook anything, and 2. his recipes are really, really good. I just saw this video in which he makes his kung pao tofu, so now I must make his kung pao tofu. Lastly, I don't have an ice cream maker, but if you do, please make Scott Loitsch's new rocky road ice cream for me. Scott's recipe uses a very clever trick to give your homemade ice cream the same consistency and longevity you get with store-bought, without requiring any extra ingredients. If you recognize Scott's name, it's probably from those NYT Cooking video credits — he's our executive producer! (You might also know him from his five-star, rave-reviewed Rice Krispies treats recipe.) IN THIS NEWSLETTER Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Greg Lofts. Roasted Shrimp With Okra and Tomatoes By Kia Damon 25 minutes Makes 4 servings Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Eggplant Dal By Kay Chun 40 minutes Makes 4 servings Bryan Gardner for The New York Times Caramelized Zucchini Pasta By Ali Slagle 50 minutes Makes 4 servings Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell. Caramelized Fennel Pasta  By Carolina Gelen 40 minutes  Makes 4 servings Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Kung Pao Tofu  By Ham El-Waylly 1 hour Makes 3 to 4 servings  Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Rocky Road Ice Cream By Scott Loitsch About 10 hours Makes About 1 quart Mark Weinberg for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi. Rice Krispie Treats By Scott Loitsch 20 minutes, plus cooling Makes 16 servings Sign up for the Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter Fresh dinner ideas for busy people who want something great to eat, with NYT Cooking recipes sent to you weekly. Get it in your inbox Sign up for The Veggie newsletter Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties. Get it in your inbox Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. 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