Matt can Cook: It's all Greek to me...

After a bit of an absence, I'm going to be posting a few recipes that I have done, starting with Souvlaki.

Souvlaki is small pieces of meat on a skewer, grilled, normally over charcoal. They can have a few veggies interspersed in the meat. Traditionally they are pork, but at least back home they are lamb or chicken.

When I lived in Sydney, I used to buy my raw Souvlakia from a butcher, in Belmore, called Supreme Souvlaki. Unfortunately I can't do that here, so with most things, I make my own.

I want to thank my friend Toula, for the guidance she gave me via email.

Ingredients:

1kg (2lbs) cubed meat lamb, chicken or pork
1/2 cup olive oil
2 lemons - about 4 tbsp juice
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
For chicken, paprika to sprinkle on raw chicken souvlaki

Method:

Cut the meat up and set aside...we had lamb and chicken.

Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together, then add the herbs, crushed garlic, salt and pepper and put the mixture into a deep bowl.

Add the meat (you can put both the chicken and lamb in the same bowl) to the marinade and mix together well.

The meat needs to marinate for at least two hours but it is better if you leave it overnight to let the marinade really develop.

Thread the meat onto the skewers. You can use either metal or wooden/bamboo skewers, but the latter need to be soaked for an hour or so to prevent them from burning on the bbq.

You can keep the leftover marinade to baste the souvlaki when it's on the bbq, but then it must be thrown away.

Cook the souvlaki thoroughly and evenly, turning them over regularly throughout the cooking time. I use charcoal because I think it gives a better flavour, but you can use a regular gas bbq.

We eat these with Tzatziki and Greek Salad (Horiatiki Salata).

The Tzatziki recipe I've done before here, but I'll rehash it now.

Ingredients:

1 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 English cucumber, diced into small pieces
4 cloves garlic, crushed
salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients and mix well, cover and rest for at least an hour.

Greek Salad

Ingredients:

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper, and extra for garnish
3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/4 red onion, sliced into rings
1/2 English cucumbe,r sliced into thick half moons
1/2 green pepper (capsicum) julienne
4 oz (120g) feta cheese, cut into small cubes
16 kalamata olives

Method:

Place the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake to combine.

Place the salad ingredients in a large bowl.