Greek - Souvlaki (chicken kebabs)
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:55 pm
Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins max
When it comes to tailgating, the cooking has to be easy, and souvlaki fits that bill. Sometimes barbeque sauce gets a little long in the tooth by summer's end, and the lemon and herbs in this recipe make for a light dish to fortify one's constitution during August's stifling dog days, when even eating sometimes seems like too much trouble.
Souvlaki can be made with pork, lamb, beef, or even swordfish/tuna, but the herbs in the marinade for this recipe are aimed at chicken. The Greeks I know don't really cook to recipe, which perhaps understandably has something to do with their alphabet, although joking apart, it is reportedly the Greeks that are credited with the first "written" cook book. This recipe gets about as close to the best souvlaki I ever had at a place called Elofonisi, on the south west tip of Crete, the same day BG went to Camp Randell. I remember it well, because there is no broadband in Elofonisi, and it took me 48 hours to catch the result.
This recipe will make 4-6 kebabs for you to sample and fine tune for your own recipe book.
Ingredients: kebabs -
- 4 - 6 skinned chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (approx 3/4" cubes)
- 2 medium onions, cut into segments (rather than rings)
- 2 bell peppers, deseeded & segmented
- 2-3 tomatoes, seeded and segmented (optional)
- 2 lemons or limes, sliced for serving
- a couple of sprigs of rosemary (fresh or packaged, optional)
- corasley chopped frsh coriander for garnish (packaged will do)
- skewers
Ingredients: marinade -
- 1/3 wine glass of olive oil
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
- 1/2 a lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon of oregano (fresh or packaged)
- 1/2 teaspoon of thyme (fresh or packaged, optional)
- salt/pepper to taste
Consenting adults are invited to add 1/2 a teaspoon of coarsely chopped ginger. Not sure if tailgates are a good place for aphrodisiacs.
Method:
Mix the marinade in a bowl, add the chicken, stir, and set aside for 1 hr. Leaving it longer probably won't make much difference, and won't do it any harm, but if you leave it to stand be sure to stir occasionally.
That's the hard part. Make up the skewers with chicken, bell peppers, onions, and tomato pieces. It might help with presentation to protect the skewer ends with foil to help with presentation. Drizzle the kebabs with olive oil, and cook over coals or under a grill. Throw a little rosemary on for flavour/aroma, turn once, drizzle with some more olive oil, and finish. Depending on the heat/size of chicken pieces, it should take 6 - 8 minutes
to cook. If you're unsure, keep a piece of chicken to one side and test with knife.
It is the sweetness from the onions and peppers that make this dish work, so it is important to cook the kebabs over a moderate heat so that the vegetables soften all the way through to the skewer without burning the edges.
Serve on or off the skewer with coarsely chopped fresh coriander, ground pepper, a squeeze of lemon, a healthy dash of the finest extra virgin olive oil, some tzatziki, and various other goodies (to follow). Great with a bottle of Myhtos (Greece's national beer), or a chilled dry chardonnay.
Cooking time: 10 mins max
When it comes to tailgating, the cooking has to be easy, and souvlaki fits that bill. Sometimes barbeque sauce gets a little long in the tooth by summer's end, and the lemon and herbs in this recipe make for a light dish to fortify one's constitution during August's stifling dog days, when even eating sometimes seems like too much trouble.
Souvlaki can be made with pork, lamb, beef, or even swordfish/tuna, but the herbs in the marinade for this recipe are aimed at chicken. The Greeks I know don't really cook to recipe, which perhaps understandably has something to do with their alphabet, although joking apart, it is reportedly the Greeks that are credited with the first "written" cook book. This recipe gets about as close to the best souvlaki I ever had at a place called Elofonisi, on the south west tip of Crete, the same day BG went to Camp Randell. I remember it well, because there is no broadband in Elofonisi, and it took me 48 hours to catch the result.
This recipe will make 4-6 kebabs for you to sample and fine tune for your own recipe book.
Ingredients: kebabs -
- 4 - 6 skinned chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces (approx 3/4" cubes)
- 2 medium onions, cut into segments (rather than rings)
- 2 bell peppers, deseeded & segmented
- 2-3 tomatoes, seeded and segmented (optional)
- 2 lemons or limes, sliced for serving
- a couple of sprigs of rosemary (fresh or packaged, optional)
- corasley chopped frsh coriander for garnish (packaged will do)
- skewers
Ingredients: marinade -
- 1/3 wine glass of olive oil
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
- 1/2 a lemon, juiced
- 1 teaspoon of oregano (fresh or packaged)
- 1/2 teaspoon of thyme (fresh or packaged, optional)
- salt/pepper to taste
Consenting adults are invited to add 1/2 a teaspoon of coarsely chopped ginger. Not sure if tailgates are a good place for aphrodisiacs.
Method:
Mix the marinade in a bowl, add the chicken, stir, and set aside for 1 hr. Leaving it longer probably won't make much difference, and won't do it any harm, but if you leave it to stand be sure to stir occasionally.
That's the hard part. Make up the skewers with chicken, bell peppers, onions, and tomato pieces. It might help with presentation to protect the skewer ends with foil to help with presentation. Drizzle the kebabs with olive oil, and cook over coals or under a grill. Throw a little rosemary on for flavour/aroma, turn once, drizzle with some more olive oil, and finish. Depending on the heat/size of chicken pieces, it should take 6 - 8 minutes
to cook. If you're unsure, keep a piece of chicken to one side and test with knife.
It is the sweetness from the onions and peppers that make this dish work, so it is important to cook the kebabs over a moderate heat so that the vegetables soften all the way through to the skewer without burning the edges.
Serve on or off the skewer with coarsely chopped fresh coriander, ground pepper, a squeeze of lemon, a healthy dash of the finest extra virgin olive oil, some tzatziki, and various other goodies (to follow). Great with a bottle of Myhtos (Greece's national beer), or a chilled dry chardonnay.