Souvlakia

A group of us at church have started Power Cooking together.  We go in together on food to buy in bulk and then we assemble/cook the meals together in the church kitchen.  It is a great time to socialize, share ideas, and work together.  Plus, we get to mess up the church kitchen instead of our own.  We do clean it up when we are done!  I liken it to an old fashioned quilting bee only we are preparing meals instead.  We also plan to put together some extra meals to go in the church's freezer for the pastors to distribute as needed.  I will be posting recipes that we use for future reference and for you to try if you are interested.
One of the meals we assembled last week was Chicken Souvlakia.  I found it in the cookbook The Grecian Plate.  This is a church cookbook assembled by The Hellenic Ladies Society at Saint Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Durham, NC.  It was first published in 1984 and has been through 10 printings.  It was the National Winner of the Prestigious R.T. French Tastemaker Cookbook Award.  This is an excellent teaching cookbook if you want to learn more about Greek cooking and food culture.
The recipe we used is for Souvlakia and calls for lamb.  While I would love to use lamb, it tends to be on the pricey side and the marinade also works well for chicken, hence the change to Chicken Souvlakia.  For Power Cooking, we placed the chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag, added the marinade ingredients, and put it in the freezer for future use.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I am sure we will.
Souvlakia
1 (3 lb) leg of lamb, boned (or 2 lbs chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
Marinade Sauce:
1 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. dried oregano
3 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 Tbsp. minced parsley
3 green peppers, quartered
1 large onion, quartered and separated into slices
12 cherry tomatoes
Lemon juice (optional)
Olive oil (optional)
Cut meat into 1 1/2-inch cubes. Place in a deep bowl. Combine all marinade ingredients in a jar; shake well. Pour over meat. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove meat; reserve marinade for basting, if desired. Skewer on a 12" metal rod the lamb, pepper, onion, and cherry tomatoes; repeat ending with lamb. Baste with reserved marinade, or beat a little lemon juice and olive oil together and brush on lamb and vegetables. Broil on broiler rack 3 inches from flame (or on the grill) for 15 to 20 minutes or until done. Turn frequently. Serve with rice. Serves 6.
4/29/09 - This is also a great marinade for talapia!