Sheet Pan Chicken and Tzatziki Flatbreads

Ingredients

• 450 g chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 120 g cucumber, drained
• black pepper
• 2 -3 bell pepperses, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 clove, grated
• 1 tsp cumin seed
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 0 .5 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• sea salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 olive
• 180 g full-fat plain greek yogurt
• Crusty bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve
• Fresh parsley, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). While it comes up, toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan for 30–60 seconds until fragrant and just shades darker — this blooms the spice oils so the marinade tastes of itself, not of dusty cupboard. Tip onto a plate to stop the cooking.
2. In a bowl, combine the sliced chicken with the grated garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, toasted cumin seeds, smoked paprika, curry powder, kosher salt and a generous grind of black pepper. Massage it through with your hands until every piece is glossy. Season properly here — chicken breast is bland without it. Leave to marinate for 30 minutes while you build the tzatziki.
3. Squeeze the grated cucumber hard in a clean tea towel until barely a drop comes out — wet cucumber means watery tzatziki within the hour. Stir it through the Greek yoghurt with the grated garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and chopped dill. Season with sea salt and black pepper, taste, and adjust — it should be cool, sharp and properly garlicky. Chill until serving.
4. Toss the sliced peppers with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and spread them across a baking tray in a single layer. Lay the marinated chicken on a second tray, also in a single layer with space between the pieces — crowd them and they'll steam, and you'll lose the golden edges that make this dish.
5. Roast both trays for 10–15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through with bronzed, paprika-stained edges and the peppers are slumped and catching black at the tips. The garlic in the marinade should smell sweet and roasted, not acrid — if you ever spot it going dark before the chicken's done, drop the heat. Burnt garlic turns bitter and there's no rescuing it.
6. Warm the flatbreads in the oven for the final 1–2 minutes, just until pliable — any longer and they go crisp.
7. Taste a piece of chicken and a pepper before they leave the trays. Adjust now — a final pinch of salt, another squeeze of lemon over the chicken if it needs lifting. At the end, not at the table.
8. Pile the spiced chicken and charred peppers onto a big board, set the bowl of tzatziki alongside, fan out the warm flatbreads, scatter the torn dill, mint or parsley, and finish with lemon wedges, a grating of zest and the olives. Let everyone build their own at the table.