Greek Chicken Souvlaki + Cypriot Grain Salad

Claudia Brick — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 04:30:10 +0000

One week of holiday has already disappeared! Scary.

Even scarier is how busy it has been: almost busier than university, if that is possible. I don’t know how. Catching up with friends, having people for dinner, cooking food to photograph and write up, exercise, doing odd jobs that come up (like the dentist…) and BAM, a week is gone.

It has also make me realise how HARD food blogging can be. I love it, don’t get me wrong – but it would be a challenging full time job. I have been trying to make, perfect and photograph weeks worth of recipes in a few short days to gradually feed out next semester, knowing that I won’t have the time, money (or kitchen) to cook back at college. Most difficult is preparing things in advance: since it is winter here, we run out of daylight at about 5pm, so anything that I want to photograph, even for dinner, needs to be ready well before then. I have adapted to making a small batch to take photos of earlier in the day, then making the rest that evening before we eat – but it means it takes at least twice as long as just making the meal ordinarily. And then – frustratingly – photos won’t turn out as well as you had envisaged, or the cake won’t be quite right, or SOMETHING happens and you do it all again for the same recipe, changing things along the way. (I don’t know if you can tell, but the photos for this post were taken on 2 separate days – the first time my pita was a bit broken, the chips a bit overdone, it was wrapped awkwardly with string… just not good. I had to have another attempt!). I now have a new appreciation for the time, effort and thought behind each photo and post on other food blogs, that is for sure.

Anyway – these Greek Chicken Souvlaki were inspired by our many trips to Jimmy Grants and Gazi this year, the popular greek street food joints by George Calombaris in Melbourne. Souvlaki, or souva, are the staples there: choose chicken or lamb, which are cut of the spit over coals and wrapped in a warm, pillowy pita bread with hot salty fries, parsley, lemon, onion & mustard aioli – SO good. I used a similar recipe to those seen on The Sugar Hit and Erin Made This, adapting them to ensure they would feed my three hungry brothers – who all loved them, by the way. The chicken is coated in a greek garlic-herb marinade and grilled on the barbecue, while the fries are oven baked (both easier and healthier) before being tossed with feta and more dried herbs, taking them from something I wouldn’t normally bother eating to something I can’t help grabbing another of. Easily served with a garlic mustard aioli, a squeeze of lemon, parsley, pickled onion and crisp contrasting cucumber, this is a top notch dinner.

Key to the recipe is using good pita bread – I actually made my own and it was about 100000000x better than any I have ever had before, and insanely easy. Definitely make them if you have time – all you do is mix up the dough sometime during the day, let it rise, chuck it in the fridge until you are almost ready to eat, then pull it out and cook the pita on a hot pan.

I served the souvlaki with a Cypriot grain salad to bulk it up a little – the recipe for which actually IS adapted from a George Calombaris creation from his Greek restaurant Hellenic Republic (yes, he owns many!) and a similar version is served at both Jimmy Grants and Gazi. Stuffed with grains, nuts and seeds, it is honestly one of my all time favourite salads. Crunch comes from pumpkin seeds, almonds and pinenuts, herby freshness from coriander, parsley and lemon juice, and dollops of tangy cumin-flavoured Greek yoghurt adorn the top. It is also very adaptable – feel free to vary the amounts of each component to suit your taste. I do recommend making it this way first though, as it is easy to add a bit more of anything after. It does make quite a lot, but left-overs keep incredibly well in the fridge for a few days and would be a super healthy lunch or welcome addition to another meal.

Greek Chicken Souvlaki with Homemade Pita

Greek Chicken Souvlaki inspired by Jimmy Grants and adapted from The Sugar Hit Pita bread adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Course Main

Cuisine Greek

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 6

Author Claudia Brick

Ingredients

Chicken thighs

10-12 boneless , skinless chicken thighs
4 large cloves garlic , minced or very finely chopped
5 tbsp olive oil
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
leaves from 4-5 springs of thyme
3 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper

Fries:

5-7 medium potatoes (I used agria)
canola oil (or another oil with high smoke point)
80 g feta , crumbled
Dried oregano and thyme , to taste

Aoili:

1/3-1/2 cup aioli (I used Heinz Aioli)
1-2 tsp wholegrain mustard , to taste

Pickled onions:

1 red onion , finely sliced
pinch of salt
Juice of a lemon

To serve

1 lebanese cucumber , sliced
1 cup parsley leaves

Pita bread

1 1/2 cups hot water
3 teaspoons instant yeast
4- 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Souvlaki

If making your own pita bread, prep these earlier in the day. After it has risen, you can leave the dough in the fridge until you are cooking the rest of the souvlaki components.
In a small jar, combined the minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, thyme, oregano and a decent grind of salt and pepper. Between 10 minutes and an hour before cooking, pour the marinade over the chicken thighs, turning to coat thoroughly (if you leave the chicken marinading for longer than an hour, you risk starting to toughen and cook the chicken with the acidic lemon juice).
For the fries, preheat the oven to 200°. Wash the potatoes and slice into chips, about 1cm thick. Spread out the fries on a metal oven tray large enough to hold them in a single layer and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to coat with the oil, spread into a single layer and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and tender, flipping at halfway so each side of the chips cooks evenly.
While the fries are cooking, prep the remaining ingredients by pickling the onions (mix the finely sliced red onion with the salt and lemon juice and set aside), slicing the cucumber and making the mustard aioli by combing the aioli and wholegrain mustard in a small bowl. You can also cook the pita at this stage if making your own.
To cook the chicken, heat the grill bars of a barbecue or a pan to medium heat. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side, or until the juices run clear. Cover with tin foil until ready to serve.
When the fries are done, transfer them into a large bowl and toss with the feta, oregano and thyme.
Slice the chicken against the grain and serve with the pita bread, fries, aioli, cucumber, pickled onions, and parsley. Wrap the pita around all the components and dig in!

Pita

In a large bowl or a stand mixer, combine the water and yeast and let sit for about five minutes until the yeast has dissolved and it looks a bit foamy. Add 4 cups of the flour (saving the last half cup for kneading), salt, and olive oil.
If using a stand mixer, knead the dough on medium speed using the dough hook for 6-8 minutes, adding more flour until it is is smooth and elastic. If using your hands, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5-7 minutes - again until the dough is very smooth and elastic. Try not too add too much more flour - it is better to use too little than too much.
Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat with oil, and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about an hour.
At this point, you can refrigerate the dough until you need it, and it will keep for about a week - you can bake a couple of pitas at a time as you require them.
Otherwise, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces . Roll each out using a rolling pin into a circle about 4mm thick. Lift and turn the dough as your roll it to make sure it doesn’t stick and to get a a more even circle. Sprinkle with extra flour if it starts to stick. Repeat with the other pieces of dough.
Heat a cast iron skillet or the hot plates of a barbecue over a medium-high heat - you want the pan to be very hot. To cook, lay a pita on the pan and bake until large bubbbles start to form and golden brown patches form on the undrside. Flip and cook for 1-2 minutes on the other side, again until toasted spots appear. The pita will start to puff up in this time - if it doesn’t, it is likely that your pan is not hot enough.
Keep cooked pitas covered with a clean teatowel while cooking the remaining. Best eaten straight away.

Cypriot Grain Salad

Adapted from Hellenic Republic.

Course Main

Cuisine Greek

Prep Time 30 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 6

Author Claudia Brick

Ingredients

1 cup freekah (or pearl barley, or bulgur wheat)
1/2 cup Puy lentils
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons slivered almonds
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons baby capers
1/2 cup currants
1 1/2 cups coriander , chopped
3/4 cups parsley , chopped
1/2 red onion , finely diced
juice of 1-2 lemons
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
1 cup thick Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds , toasted and ground.
1 tablespoon honey

Instructions

Cook the freekah and lentils separately according to package instructions. Drain well and alow to cool.
In a small skillet, gently toast the pumpkin seeds, almonds and pinenuts. Leave to cool.
For the dressing, mix together the yoghurt, ground cumin seeds and honey, and set aside in the fridge.
Toss together the freekah and lentils, toasted seeds and nuts, currants, coriander, parsley, red onion, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt to taste.
Serve topped with dollops of cumin yoghurt.

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