Zak's Recipes

Have a go at Cooking our Gourmet Food at Home

SKEWERED LAMB

(ARNI SOUVLAKI)

Serves: 6-8

Cooking time: 6-8 minutes

1 leg lamb, about 1.5kg (3 lb), boned

½ cup olive oil

½ cup dry white wine

juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons dried rigani or oregano

2 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped

3-4 bay leaves, broken in pieces

salt and pepper

Cut lamb into 2.5 cm (1 inch) cubes and place in a glass or earthenware dish. Add remaining ingredients to lamb, mix well to coat meat, and cover. Leave in refrigerator to marinate for 12-24 hours, stirring meat occasionally.

Lift lamb out of marinade and thread onto bamboo or metal skewers, allowing two skewers per person. Pieces of bay leaf may be placed between lamb cubes.

Cook under a hot grill or over glowing charcoal, turning and basting frequently with marinade, for 6-8 minutes or until cooked to taste. Place on a platter and garnish with parsley and lemon wedges.

CHAR-GRILLED SKEWERED SWORDFISH

(XIFIAS SOUVLAKI)

Serves: 6

Cooking Time: 12-15 minutes

1 kg (2 lb) thick swordfish steaks

½ cup olive oil

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped spring onions

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

salt and pepper

Remove skin from swordfish steaks if present. Cut fish into 2.5cm (1 inch) cubes.

In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients, adding salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Add fish, toss well to coat, cover and marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Thread fish cubes onto flat sword-like skewers and grill on barbecue grid over glowing coals, turning often and basting with marinade. Serve with a jug of oil and lemon dressing and country-style salad.

OCTOPUS IN RED WINE

(OKTAPODHI KRASSATO)

1 octopus 1kg

1/3 cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

½ cup dry red wine

1 ½ cups chopped, peeled tomatoes

salt freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

Clean octopus, pull off tentacles, and remove intestines and ink sac. Cut out eyes and beak. Remove skin and rinse well. Place in a pan without any liquid, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Octopus will produce it’s own juice. Drain and cool a little.

Cut head and tentacles into small pieces, stripping off Suckers if desired.

Heat oil in pan and gently fry onion until transparent. Add garlic and octopus pieces and stir over heat for 5 minutes longer. Add wine and let it cook until most of wine has evaporated.

Reduce heat and add tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer gently on low heat for 1 ½ hours or until octopus is tender. Add water during cooking of necessary, only adding if mixture looks like scorching.

Add most of parsley, cook for one minute further and then serve hot with pasta or rice. Sprinkle remaining parsley on top.

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Last modified: 12/04/06