Pork Souvlaki: Grilled Pork Kebabs
It's time to fire up the grill (if you haven't already) - and get your souvlaki on!
Souvlaki (say: soov-LAH-kee) - skewered kebabs - is one of those foods that have become synonymous with Greece, as popular with Greeks as they are with non-Greeks. Souvlaki is a favorite street food on the skewer or in pita wraps, and a family favorite at home, cooked on the grill. A quick marinade of herbs, spices, oil, and wine (or vinegar) is all that's needed.
Of all the versions of souvlaki, pork is the most frequently used meat in my little village. This is an easy recipe to make, and even easier to eat. Make the skewers with small pieces of meat to recreate a classic Greek street food, or make them large for a meal.
Favorite taste combinations: When fixing this recipe for Pork Souvlaki at home, I always figure on at least 3/4 of a pound of meat per person because these are such favorites. But that's a lot of meat - so side dishes are kept pretty minimal. We enjoy these with fried potatoes, a classic Greek salad, some great crusty country bread, and tzatziki.
- Greek Recipe for Pork Souvlaki
- More Greek Souvlaki recipes (meat, fish, and veggies)
Photo © Jim Stanfield
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Top Greek Recipes of the Week
This week's list of readers' 20 favorite Greek recipes begins and ends with tsoureki, a delicious sweet yeast bread that is a traditional part of the Greek Easter meal. The top recipe is for a traditional hand-kneaded bread (photo), and number 20 is a recipe using a bread machine. In between, the list includes Easter favorites and Greek classics.
Check out the complete list as well as favorites from the past.
The most popular non-recipe this week was Easter Foods & Customs, starting with Greek Holy Week preparations and describing the Easter celebration.
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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The Greek Easter Egg Photo Gallery
To wind up our celebration of the foods of Easter, enjoy these photos of Easter eggs contributed by site visitors.
Happy Easter to all who celebrate this Sunday. Καλό Πάσχα! (For traditional Easter greetings and expressions, see The Greek Easter Glossary.)
Photo © Maria & Dino
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Oven-Roasted Pork Chops with Potatoes
Thick-cut pork chops are oven-roasted with potatoes and a sprinkling of chopped tomatoes, bell pepper, and garlic. This is an easy family meal to prepare and delicious to eat.
Make it a meal with Maroulosalata (Romaine Salad), a slice of feta, and some crusty country bread.
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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The First Easter Meal after Midnight
The first traditional meal on Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday to break the seven weeks' fast will be eaten after the midnight Service of the Resurrection on Sunday, April 19th, 2009. It includes the traditional Mayiritsa soup (photo), Tsoureki (sweet yeast bread), and red eggs. For those of us who are doing most of the cooking for later in the day, we hope it's a quick meal!
The menu (with recipes) for breaking the fast is part and parcel of Greek Easter food traditions.
Why is Orthodox Easter on a different date? About.com Guide to Christianity, Mary Fairchild, has the explanation. For more descriptions of the many different traditions observed by the Eastern Orthodox faiths, including Greek, Serbian, Russian, and more, don't miss her Customs, Traditions, and Foods of Orthodox Easter.
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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One Easy Appetizer, Two Options: Roasted Peppers & Feta
This simple appetizer combines the tastes of roasted red peppers and feta cheese - with two different serving options. The first is a simple coil of pepper around a small square of cheese, fastened with a toothpick and sprinkled with a pinch of crushed Greek oregano (at right in photo). The second starts with that same coil of pepper around the cheese, but it is placed on top of a dollop of olive tapenade for a more complex taste treat (photo, left). Both tastes are fabulous, both make wonderful appetizers, hors d'oeuvres, or mezedes, and both are very easy to prepare.
The key to great results is to either roast and marinate your own pimiento peppers or to use jarred roasted peppers that specify "pimiento" peppers - and preferably those famous Greek pimientos from Florina!
Roasted red peppers are wonderfully versatile. In addition to this recipe for Roasted Peppers with Feta, check out a recipe for red pepper and garlic puree on the forum, along with different ideas from forum visitors about the many different ways to use it.
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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Preparing for Easter: The Greek Holiday Table
As millions of Greek Orthodox (and members of other Eastern Orthodox churches) prepare for Holy Week and Easter, faith and food share the spotlight.
It is often said that the most significant and celebratory events in Greek family life occur while sharing food, and Easter - as the most important religious observance in the Greek Orthodox faith - provides a wonderful opportunity to enjoy our families and friends with (perhaps too much) food, music, and an Easter Sunday celebration that often starts before dawn and ends ... well, before dawn the next day.
When it comes to the Easter Sunday meal, planning has already started for the big day on April 19th - with questions: Should I cook a whole lamb on a spit? Grill thyme lamb chops or souvlaki (skewered kabobs)? Or keep the meal indoors with a fabulous lamb roast (photo) or other oven dish?
Whatever we choose for the main event, starters, salads, sides, and desserts will be chosen based on the number of people, local custom, and family traditions. But whether the Easter Sunday meal is simple or elaborate, four elements will rarely be missing:
- Red eggs, representing the blood of Christ and rebirth,
- Tsoureki, an egg-rich sweet dessert bread, often baked with one or more red eggs at Easter,
- Butter Cookies, and
- Lamb or kid.
Easter Preparation Help
More Easter Ideas
Once the basics have been covered, take a look at other Easter traditions and incorporate something new! From our Italian Food Guide, Kyle Phillips: Roman Easter Menu Recipes and Neapolitan Easter Menu Recipes. From Spanish Food Guides, Lisa and Tony Sierra: a Spanish Easter Sunday Menu. And from Eastern European Food Guide, Barbara Rolek, a Serbian Easter Menu.
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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Cheese & Honey Pie: Melopita
If you haven't already discovered the combination of cheese and honey, let me assure you: it is fabulous, and this pie is a classic example. Myzithra cheese, honey, eggs, and touch of cinnamon create a delicious filling enclosed in a rolled dough crust.
Enchanted by the combination of cheese and honey? Here are two more wonderful ways to try it:
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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Strawberries: The Fruit of Seduction & Temptation
Greek mythology places the origins of the wild strawberry with the passion of Aphrodite and Adonis, leading to its association with seduction and temptation. Today, strawberries are one of the many delights of spring - and, of course, they can be very seductive and tempting!
In Greece, we pick strawberries from May to September, but in most areas, strawberries are considered a spring fruit. Learn more about strawberry myth, fact, and buying tips, along with Greek recipes for this fabulous heart-shaped fruit.
Photo ©2009 N. Gaifyllia, licensed to About.com, Inc.
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Easter on Crete with Sweet Cheese Pastries (Kalitsounia)
These sweet cheese pastries - like mini cheesecakes - are called kalitsounia (say: kah-leet-SOON-yah) and are a specialty of Crete, an island known for its culinary traditions. We enjoy them year round, but they are a special favorite at Easter and an essential part of the Easter Sunday menu.
Unlike many other Greek pastries that use layered sheets of phyllo dough, this recipe for kalitsounia calls for a kneaded, rolled dough, which is wrapped around sweet cheese with a dash of cinnamon and a hint of orange.
The recipe calls for fresh sweet myzithra cheese, a Cretan favorite, but if you can't find it at local or online Greek food shopping resources, ricotta can be used as a substitute.
Photo © Jim Stanfield
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