Brat Days is this coming weekend in Sheboygan, WI. If you are in the area, I highly recommend trying it out, Alexis and I had a wonderful time in that lakeside town last year. One of the exceptional meals that we had there were gyros made from brats, a special that Alexis got at Brisco County Wood Grill.
The idea seemed a little weird but it tasted surprisingly like real gyros and she loved them. I've made gyros from scratch before with lamb and beef using Alton Brown's method on a rotisserie. They are good but a bit of a pain to make, not something you'd want to cook on a weeknight. Brats are an easy alternative.
Last night, I made my own brat gyros. I made a Greek version of Johnsonville's brat tub technique and a homemade tzatziki sauce to go along with it.
This Greek influenced meal had me exclaiming "Opa!" earlier this week.
Normally I prefer thick, center cut pork chops but every now and then, we'll pick up a pack of those super cheap and thin "assorted pork chops". They are cut from the extreme ends of the loin (shoulder and sirloin) and can be tougher but this marinade helps take care of that and adds flavor. (Warning - it will also find any paper cuts or scratches you have on your hands, yeeouch!)
Greek Pork Marinade
by www.nibblemethis.com
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients (1 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
Makes enough for 4-6 pork chops, 2 tenderloins, or a small loin roast.
Whisk all ingredients together until well blended.
Marinade pork in a Glad zipper storage bag for 4-6 hours before grilling.
Reserve and dice some of the marinated red onion for the rice.
I grilled the thin chops for about 3 minutes a side over glowing coals.
I made some zucchini and yellow squash ribbon skewers and
had a few of the thin slices leftover so I diced them up and added it
to the Lemon Rice Pilaf for an excellent rice side dish that even Trevor
devoured.
Melt butter in a pan over medium high heat. Saute the red onion until just softened, about 5 minutes. (Note: If you are using red onions from the Greek pork marinade, they will be slightly pickled and cook quicker.)
Add the uncooked rice, toss to coat rice in the butter, and saute until the rice starts to turn golden and gives off a nutty aroma, about 3 minutes.
Add the hot broth and lemon juice and quickly cover. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Working quickly to minimize the time the lid is off, stir in the zucchini and/or squash. Cover with lid and cook another 5 minutes.
Remove from heat, leaving lid on and rest for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve.
The zucchini and yellow squash skewers are easy too. Just slice zucchini and squash into thin ribbons on a mandolin. Then just fold them as shown on a couple of small skewers.
Marinade in a vinaigrette for 30 minutes. Then grill over a medium high charcoal grill for 90 seconds, flip and cook another 90 seconds.
These cook super quickly so don't turn your back.
Make these last because they cool off quickly.
I had made tzatziki sauce to go with it all. I hate cucumbers but love pickles and tzatziki, go figure.
Hey, it is Ground Hog Day today! I need to go to the store and buy some ground pork.
We had two tiny lamb chops leftover and four of us to feed so I figured I had three options:
Become a divinity and multiply it like the loaves and fishes (If I have that kind of power, forget the lamb....I'm going to make some wine.)
Tell the boys there is a new XBox 360 game hidden somewhere in the basement and then quickly eat the lamb chops before they get back upstairs.
Make a Greek pizza
I'm pretty sure that #1 isn't going to happen and the boys aren't going to fall for #2 a fourth time, so we made the pizza.
Preheated the Big Green Egg coal fired pizza oven to 500f.
Topped the pizza crust with
-sun dried tomato pesto as the pizza sauce
-meat from 2 lamb chops, finely minced
-red onion, sliced
-2-3 mini sweet red bell peppers, sliced
-olives sliced
-oregano (about 1 Tbsp)
-feta cheese
-mozzarella cheese
-red pepper flakes (about 1 tsp)
Put it on a pre-heated pizza stone on the Big Green Egg and bake it for about 9-10 minutes, depending on who is keeping time and remembers to press the START on the timer.
Yeah, this wasn't half bad for leftovers.
Have any favorite tips for making pizza? What are your favorite pizza flavor combinations?
A souvlaki slider is not a pitch thrown by Major League Baseball's hottest new Greek pitcher. It's an idea I had last night when I realized that I had the wrong type of pita bread.
But first, I have an exciting announcement from the folks at Kingsford Charcoal. How would you like to spend three days in Vegas learning from a BBQ Master named Chris??? No, no, not me - I am talking about a REAL BBQ Pitmaster - Chris Lilly. Chris has won multiple world BBQ championships and he is a walking library of BBQ information. Chris has a masterful delivery for sharing his knowledge in his classes. Here is Chris at a cooking class I attended at Dead End BBQ here in Knoxville last May.
This year three lucky winners will get flown to Las Vegas to learn the latest in grillin' and thrillin' from Chris at Kingsford Charcoal's annual Kingsford University. To make it even better, this will be held at the Las Vegas speedway during the Sprint Cup weekend. CLICK HERE TO LEARN HOW TO ENTER KINGSFORD UNIVERSITY. Believe me, this is one you don't want to miss!
Okay, back to the souvlaki. This idea has been percolating in my head ever since Mr. Holloway posted his souvlaki over at the EggForum in November. It is a simple yet flavor packed dish.
2 boneless pork loin chops, cut into 1" cubes 4 whole pita breads 1/2 cup red onion, diced
Marinade 1/4 cup lemon juice 1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped 1 dried red chile, crumbled 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1 1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper (I used RichardFL's Indian River Rainbow Pepper) 1 large or 2 normal sized clove of garlic, finely minced 1/4 cup olive oil
Tzatziki sauce 14 ounces greek yogurt (ours comes in 7 oz sizes, but two cups would be fine) 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar (fig balsamic also works well) 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 1/2 cucumber, seeded, peeled, coarsely chopped 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1 Tbsp olive oil 3/4 tsp dill weed Make your marinade by slowly pouring the oil into the lemon juice while whisking to make a vinaigrette. Add the remaining ingredients. Toss the cubed pork in the marinade to thoroughly coat. Refrigerate and let marinate for at least 8 hours but 24 hours is best.
Make the tzatziki sauce by combining all ingredients in a food processor and running it 5-9 pulses until you get the consistency you like. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving but will hold for several days.
Once the meat has marinated, it is time to assemble the skewers. Don't be alarmed that the color of the meat has turned slightly. It's not going bad, it is the marinade acting on the meat.
Here is my video tip about types of skewers and tips for using them.
My Big Green Egg was busy smoking an 11.5 lb butt so I got Alexis' Big Green Egg set up for direct heat at 350f. Next time I would use 400f. Grill the souvlaki 2 minutes a side.
When they are done, brush with lemon juice just before taking them off.
Lightly brush your pita bread with olive oil and grill 1 minute per side.
If you were doing these as a main course, you'd be ready to eat just as they are.
But to make these as an appetizer portion, cut the pita bread into wedges as shown. (A whole pita cut into 6 equal pieces or a half pita cut into thirds...figure it out, this isn't a geometry class.)
Place a dollop of the tzatziki sauce on each wedge, sprinkle with diced red onion, and top with 1-2 pieces of the souvlaki. These are tasty and a great way to spread two pork chops into a dozen appetizer portions. You could also garnish them with some diced tomato, chopped mint, or anything that floats your boat. You could also place the meat and goods inside the wedge for a more "slider" style, but we found them easier to eat like this. Enjoy and get grilling!
A few weeks ago, I complained that rabbits or squirrels were eating our strawberries just as they started to become ripe, before we could enjoy them. Well today, Brett rescued this little critter in our yard from a neighbor's cat's jaws.
Before everyone says, "awwwww, look at the baby rabbit", just remember, rabbits can be killers! Here's a scientific documentary proving that.
Even still, Alexis wouldn't let me make rabbit stew so we had to have something else for dinner. (Don't worry just joking, he/she is recovering fine and will be released back in our garden tomorrow morning.)
This is one that Alexis and I made up a few weeks ago (April 20th to be exact per my notebook) when she decided she wanted to try a deep dish style pizza. We looked at what ingredients we had on hand and decided to take it Greek style. It wasn't authentic Greek food, but it had a lot of Greek flavors.
We made it again tonight but this time made it in the brick oven....errr Big Green Egg. As I've mentioned a million times over, the Egg's ceramics make it the perfect wood fired cooker for pizzas. But this recipe does work well in both an oven or on a ceramic cooker. Greek Style Deep Dish Pizza Source: Nibble Me This
Ingredients 1 order pizza dough (make your own, buy from local pizza joint or buy a mix from store) 1/2 cup sun-dried tomato pesto 6 ounces mozzarella, shredded 8-10 slices salami, quartered 2 slices red onion 4-6 ea kalamata olives, sliced 1/4 cup portobello mushroom, diced and sauteed 8-10 ea mint leaves, fresh, chopped 4-5 ea marinated artichoke hearts, diced 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
Instructions Roll pizza dough out and form it into a greased 9" round dish. This will work with a cake pan but does really well with a preheated stoneware pan. Poke the dough all over with a fork. Alexis tells me that will help keep the dough from bubbling up during the pre-cook. She knows the baking stuff way better than I (See? we complement each other!). Place the pan/dough into a 475f Big Green Egg or oven for 5 minutes.
Spread the tomato pesto on the base of the pizza and top with the mozzarella. We used Classico's Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto that you can find in most grocery stores but you could make your own, there's a lot of recipes available via a quick google.
Then toss in the next six ingredients (salami, onions, olives, mushroom, mint, and artichoke....don't you hate when recipes make you count?).
Top with the feta cheese and put back on the Big Green Egg or in the oven, still at 475f and cook for 12 minutes. Pull from the cooker and let rest in the pan for another 5 minutes.
You should be able to lift the entire pan using a pair of large spatulas. Slice and serve. Damn good stuff. Both times this has been one of our favorite pizzas. It might not be pretty but the flavors pack a punch that wakes your mouth up. The strong flavors of the feta, olives, peppers, and other ingredients walk that fine line between making your mouth water and making your eyes wince.
Time for a quick game of Versus in the comments: 1) Deep dish vs. regular pizza 2) Monty Python rocks vs. Monty Python sucks (don't worry about offending me, I love MP, Alexis hates them).
Recipe inspirations come from the weirdest places.
I was wondering what to do with a whole chicken that I had thawing. Trevor was watching a recorded episode of Myth Busters about Archimedes "solar death ray". That in turn made me think about "Greek Fire". It was a flame thrower type weapon (as far as we can tell) that the Byzantines used in naval battles around the 9th and 10th century.
Then I thought, "Greek Fire, Roasted Chicken....yeah, that'll do!"
I didn't actually have any Greek Fire on hand so I used my Big Green Egg.
Greek Fire Roasted Chicken Source: Nibble Me This
1 whole chicken, spatchcocked (butterflied) 8 Tbsp butter 1/4 cup Feta cheese, crumbled 1/4 cup oregano, chopped 3 ea large olives, pitted and finely diced 1/2 to 1 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 to 1 teaspoon garlic pepper (sub black pepper if you don't have any). 1 ea lemon
This turns out so good thanks to the compound butter. It kind of bastes itself during the roasting.
Soften the butter and mix in the feta and about 1/2 of the oregano. Shape into a log by rolling it in parchment paper and squeezing into shape. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes or long enough to be firm.
Using your fingers, separate the skin from the meat in several areas around the breasts and thighs of the chicken. Work about 1/3 of the compound butter and all of the diced olive into the pockets. Don't worry if it crumbles, mine did. You can move some of it down into the legs and hard to reach areas by "massaging" or pushing it along from above the skin.
Crumble about 1/2 of the butter mixture on top of the spatchcocked chicken and season with the salt, pepper, and remaining oregano. (This will leave some leftover compound butter. It's great to spread on bread and then toasting in the oven.)
Roast the chicken skin side up on a grill set up for indirect cooking at 350f. You'll want to use some sort of drip pan because this one will get messy as the butter starts to melt and baste the chicken with it's magic.
Setting for the BGE: Plate setter in legs up, drip pan on top, bird on the plain grid. If you want crispier skin, you could use a raised grid ("grid extender"). I was using plain lump, bottom vent open about 1-11/2". Most of the time the DMFT was closed with the daisy wheel open.
Setting for charcoal/gas grills: It's ideal to have heat sources on both sides of the chicken. For example if you have a left, middle and right burner, have the left and right ones on with the chicken over the middle (turned off) burner. If you can only have heat on one side, you'll want to rotate (not flip) the chicken every 15 minutes for even cooking.
Setting for oven: Preheat a cast iron skillet in the 350f oven for a good 10-15 minutes. After you put the butter under the skin BUT BEFORE you put it on top, place the chicken skin side down in the skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes to get a quick sear on the skin. Flip the chicken over in the skillet. Now top with the butter mixture, seasonings and herbs and roast as directed.
Roast the bird until it his 180f internal temp in the thighs and 160f internal in the breasts. This should take from 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours but go by temp. About 1 hour into the roast, sprinkle the juice of the lemon over the chicken.
Our chicken came out tender, very moist, and the crispy flavorful crust was excellent. The spanakorizo was not bad but rather forgettable. I did a few substitutions on the salad (sun dried tomato instead of anchovies for the vinaigrette, smoked olives instead of kalamata, fig vinegar instead of sherry vinegar) but it was very good too.
The compound butter rolled, chilled and ready to go. You can see the lumps of butter under the skin now, but they'll be gone by the end. My "Mess" en place for the salad. It was too pretty outside to be in the kitchen making a salad. Those Applewood Smoked Olives in a Napa Valley Chardonnay from Mezzetta are EXCELLENT! It was worth the splurge, I got them from Food City for about $6.50. The My Big Fat Greek Salad was a huge hit with Alexis and me. I love salads that make me wince here and there:) The sharpness of the feta and plives and the bite of the vinegar and red onion played well together. I forgot the little toast wedges:( It only LOOKS like the feta and butter all melted away but the flavor stayed around. I need a macro lens, but you can see in the shot of the sliced breast that it was perfectly juicy. You can also see the bits of olive left under the skin. Yum! Final plated shot of the bird and spanakorizo. This chicken recipe would also work well using bone in chicken breasts and would take less time.
I'll definitely be making this one again.
I am submitting this to 5 Star Foodie's "5 Star Makeover" compound butter challenge. If you have a compound butter recipe with a twist, hop over there and enter it! Thanks to Greg at SippitySup, blogger extraordinaire, for the tip about the challenge.
I wasn't sure if this meal would be good or a Greek tragedy. Fortunately, it turned out excellent.
I daydream about food on the way home from work most evenings. I think about what ingredients I have at home, things I've seen or cooked before, and just let the thoughts collide. Tonight my thoughts centered around a pork tenderloin that I had thawed out.
I thought about Chris Lilly's Pork Tenderloin Pinwheels that I have made before, stuffed with bacon, rolled in pecans and brushed with a mustard sauce. But the feta and fresh spinach I had at home made me think more along Greek lines. Here's what I came up with. Nibble Me This Greek Pork Pinwheels
Ingredients 1 ea pork tenderloin 30 spinach leaves (about 1/2 cup?) 1/4 cup feta cheese 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced
Marinade 1/2 cup olive oil 3 Tablespoon lemon juice 1/4 cup fig infused balsamic vinegar (sub red wine vinegar) 1/4 cup white onion, finely diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 teaspoon dried thyme salt & pepper to taste
Instructions Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients. Reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade for the Greek rice.
Slice the tenderloin lengthwise into about 5-6 slices, about 1/4" thick each as pictured. TIP: First, put the tenderloin into the freezer for about 30 minutes to partially freeze it. Slices much easier. Second, most tenderloins have a "flat side" due to being packaged two to a pack. Use that flat side as a solid base.
Top each slice with layers of spinach, feta, and sun dried tomatoes. Drizzle some of the marinade on top. Carefully (i.e. make a hell of a mess trying to keep it all together) roll up each slice from one end to the other and secure with a toothpick. Place the pinwheels in a small casserole and apply remaining marinade. Let sit for 1-2 hours.
Prepare your grill for a direct heat cook at 375f. On the Big Green Egg, I had plain lump charcoal burning with no wood and I used a raised grid extender. That's about 8 inches from the fire so that would be the top rack on most other grills. TIP: The oily marinade will cause flare ups so keep your grill lid closed to control the flow of oxygen.
Grill the pinwheels for 8 minutes a side.
We were very pleased with this. They weren't very photogenic but the pork was tender and packed with flavor thanks to the marinade from inside and out. For a side dish, I made this Greek Tomato Pilaf and added the reserved 1/4 cup of marinade at the point you add the dry rice to the saute. I give that recipe two thumbs up too.
I'm not sure whether that title sounds more like the name of a law firm or a Cartoon Network show. But it's actually what I made for dinner tonight.
Falafel I found this recipe on BigOven, the cooking software/food networking that I prefer.
Ingredients
4 cups Garbanzo Beans - 2 cans 4 cloves Garlic - minced 2 teaspoons Cumin 1 teaspoon Turmeric 1 teaspoon Salt 1/2 cup Onion - finely minced 1/4 cup Parsley Minced 1/4 cup Water 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice 1 dash Cayenne 1/3 cup Flour
Instructions Rinse the garbanzos and drain them well. If they were canned, just drain them.
Combine all ingredients (except flour) in a food processor or a medium sized bowl and process or mash until batter is uniform. Add flour and stir/process until thoroughly combined. The batter can be stored in the refrigerator in a tightly covered container for several days.
Preheat oven to 400?. Get a baking pan, cookie sheet, pie tin--whatever. Spray it with non-stick spray for best results and form the batter with a spoon into a flattened ball. It should not be much bigger than your spoon. For a falafel in a small pita bread, make 2-3 felafel patties. For a larger one, 4-5 will do. Bake them for about 20-25 minutes. You might flip them over halfway through baking. Theyre finished when they are golden brown. The aroma will fill your kitchen! Serve these in pita bread with sliced bell peppers, onions, tomatoes--whatever you'd like
My notes: This was a little bit too much for my food processor. Next time I'd split it into two smaller batches and then blend them by hand in a large mixing bowl.
The spices were a touch too strong, next time scale cumin back to 1.5 t. We liked them better flattened out as patties brushed with lemon juice and topped with some of the tzatziki. The flavor was good but the texture seems like it should be more crispy on the outside, cake like on the inside. Maybe they'd be better fried?
Not bad, but definitely needs tweaking. Hit me with your falafel suggestions.
Gyro's with Tzatziki I used the recipe and technique that Alton Brown used (click the link for full recipe & instructions)in his Good Eats show. We've made it twice before and like it.
Ingredients I rolled the mixture tight in saran wrap and rested it in the fridge for 4 hours to firm it up. I decided to cook it on the Big Green Egg like a fatty, which is sort of like Alton's rotisserie method. I cooked it indirect at 300f with a drip pan underneath to catch drippings. My target temp was 350f, but I was low on lump charcoal and I needed to clean out around the fire box. It took approximately 90 minutes to reach 170f internal. I let it rest for 10 minutes and then this is one area where I deviated. When you see gyro meat being cut normally, they are slicing from the top to the bottom, shaving it off. The crust is the best part so I wanted it to be more evenly distributed for every serving piece. So I sliced the gyro fatty in half lengthwise and then sliced that thinly. This is just 1/2 of the sliced meat.We ate them in pita pockets with thinly sliced red onion, tzatziki sauce, and chopped tomatoes. The flavor was brilliant, it made my mouth water biting into that first bite. Excellent! Given the amount it made this way, I will keep this in mind for buffet platters for parties or events.
