Chicken Souvlaki

It’s still wintry here the first week of March, with a couple of inches of snow every other day or so. It’s tough to get around and tough to motivate. Yet cooking something reminiscent of summer, full of warming spices can bring me around.

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The sister sandwich to Cleonice’s lamb burger, our Chicken Souvlaki. Technically souvlaki is grilled on skewers and this recipe would work perfectly well with cubes of chicken grilled on a stick instead of a filleted breast. We still called it souvlaki because it truly echos those Mediterranean flavors. Grilled Chicken breast richly flavored with Sam’s 10 Spice Curry served with tangy tzatziki and savory tahini sauces is a treat on a chilly late winter day.

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  • 1 pound of chicken breasts, preferably local and free range
  • Three cloves of garlic pounded with a mortar and pestle with a pinch of coarse salt
  • 1/4 cup of mint chiffonade
  • 2 T Sam’s 10 Spice (or other curry)
  • 2 T Lemon Juice
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • Pita or flat bread of your choice
  • Tzatziki and Tahini Sauces (please follow the link for recipes)

First, cut your chicken breasts into equal thicknesses for even grilling and portioning.

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To make sure the chicken cooks evenly we butterfly the breast. Creating evenly sized chicken breast filets (so to speak) requires a little knife work. As you can see, there is a considerable difference in thickness from one end of the breast to the other. Starting from the thinner end, start slicing horizontally where the meat starts to become considerably thicker.

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Holding the meat in place while making sure your fingers are out of the way, continue to cut through the breast to make two portions of equal thickness.

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Sam’s 10 spice curry is covered in an earlier blog, and is a mix of the spices above (this makes about a cup of curry all together).

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To your butterflied breasts add pounded garlic, Sam’s 10 spice, chiffonaded mint, olive oil and lemon juice.

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Mix well and allow to marinate in refrigerator at least 30 minutes, but can be held overnight.

souvpanOf course, it is too challenging to grill with so many feet of snow out there, so we’re using a grill pan. Heat the pan first before laying your marinated chicken in the pan.

souvgrill2Allow the chicken to brown on one side. You may rotate the chicken a quarter turn while cooking the first side so as to get grill cross marks (not so easy on an indoor grill pan though). Flip the chicken after about five minutes.

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You can check the doneness of the chicken by feel (pressing with your finger), using a thermometer, or, as above, cut into the breast and check for pink, this one has a ways to go still.If you are using a grill you can move the chicken to the cooler part
grill so as not to scorch while finishing cooking, indoors turn the pan down a little
and keep the chicken moving if you’re worried about the outside burning before the inside is cooked. Alternately you can move the chicken to a 350 degree oven
to finish.

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When your chicken is thoroughly cooked, wrap it up in flat bread or stuff it into a
pita with a bit of crunchy romaine lettuce, serve with Tahini and Tzatziki Sauce
and enjoy.

Chicken Souvlaki
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound of chicken breasts, preferably local and free range
  • 3 cloves of garlic pounded with a mortar and pestle with a pinch of coarse salt
  • ¼ cup of mint chiffonade
  • 2 T Sam's 10 Spice (or other curry)
  • 2 T Lemon Juice
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • Pita or flat bread of your choice
  • Tzatziki and Tahini Sauces - see earlier blog post
  • Romaine Lettuce
Instructions
  1. Butterfly chicken breasts to create filets with even thicknesses.
  2. To your butterflied chicken filets add Sam's 10 Spice (our blend can be found in an earlier blog post), mint olive oil, and lemon juice.
  3. Mix well and marinate in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, but can be held overnight.
  4. Heat a grill pan and add oil, or ready your outdoor grill.
  5. Allow the chicken to brown on one side, you may rotate the chicken a quarter turn while cooking the first side so as to get grill cross marks.
  6. Flip the chicken after about five minutes.
  7. Brown the second side of the chicken. When the chicken begins to feel firm, and is thoroughly browned you may check doneness by slicing through the thickest part and check for pink.
  8. Turn down the pan, or move the chicken to a cooler part of the grill if your chicken begins to burn before cooking through. Alternately, you can move the chicken to a 350 degree oven to finish cooking.
  9. When your chicken is thoroughly cooked, wrap it up in flat bread or stuff it into a
  10. pita with a bit of crunchy romaine lettuce, serve with Tahini and Tzatziki Sauce
  11. and enjoy.

 

 

Cary Hanson

About Cary Hanson

My husband and I didn't have children, we had a restaurant. For twelve and a half years we poured body and soul into Cleonice Mediterranean Bistro. We worked closely with local farmers, fishermen, and food artisans, doing our best to support our local community. We made great friends, beautiful food, and had a lot of fun. As Rich and I rediscover ourselves as our own beings outside of the all-consuming restaurant we have time to share our recipes and reminisce about Cleonice.