#42 SUMMER SOUVLAKI

now, if you're not greek, haven't been to greece or spend some time studying the menu of a greek restaurant you might be asking what are souvlaki? souvlaki are basically skewers made of mostly not-so-lean pork or other meat and grilled. the original version doesn't contain anything other than lovely meat, a bit of olive oil and spices. however, when we make them (as in me and my mum, or just me) we add some vegetables and sometimes even bacon (if we're cheeky). this is something I love to eat in summer especially because it just gives me that holiday BBQ feeling and when I eat it with some tzatziki it keeps me from missing the beach and the mediterranean. at least for a little bit.

if you don't have a BBQ in your flat (if you do, you shouldn't) then don't be afraid, you can most definitely make them in the oven, they won't have the lovely BBQ flavour (naturally) but they'll still be amazing, trust me, we don't have a BBQ here either.

another thing that I love about them is that you can of course eat them with potatoes or other lovely side dishes, but if you're trying to reduce your carbs you definitely won't miss them if you just have one or two skewers with a lot of tzatziki which is just yogurt, garlic and cucumber and also very healthy. also, I always use lean pork mainly because I don't particularly like the taste of fat anyway. to add another healthy side dish, I love to have it with greek salad, which will definitely not leave you hungry.

 something else that makes it the perfect thing is that you practically spend no time in the kitchen, you can prepare them and leave in the fridge and then simply chuck in the oven for when you want them.

Souvlaki with Vegetables and Bacon

and Tzatziki

for two

300 g pork (ideally tenderloin, pork chops or similar)

2 red peppers

2 onions

approx. 16 slices of streaky bacon

greek/full fat yogurt

1/2 cucumber

1 clove garlic

olive oil

you'll start by preparing the skewers, ideally use metal skewers as it's easier to get the meat of those, if you don't have any then wooden ones will be fine if you put some olive oil on the first.

cut the meat into chunks whatever size you want them to be, then cut the veg into equal chunks. take your skewers and arrange meat and veg on the evenly.

you can now either put them in the oven straight away, or cover them with a bit of olive oil and herbs and keep in the fridge wrapped in tinfoil. if you put them in the oven, make sure it's pre-heated to about 180°C.

while they're in the oven/fridge you can make your tzatziki; simply pour your yogurt into a bowl and add the minced garlic and a bit of olive oil. grate the cucumber onto a plate and add salt, this will take some of the water out of the cucumber and keep your tzatziki from getting too watery instead of creamy and yum. simply press the water out of the cucumbers and add to the mixture. all done. you can now keep it in the fridge until your skewers are done.

once the souvlaki are done, serve with some tzatziki and your side dish of choice and enjoy a bit of mediterranean holiday feeling.

I could definitely use a bit of real holiday at the moment, but as I won't get that kind of holiday I'm happy with some food that reminds me of it. how about you? what's your favourite holiday feeling food and where will you be going this summer?

Magdalena.