My Big Fat Greek Dinner

As I have briefly mentioned before, I spent a summer studying in Greece while in law school. At the time, I pretty much hated Athens. I had planned on being in Cairo for the summer, loved everything Arab, and was just not impressed with the Greeks or their attitudes one bit. I had traveled to quite a few other countries in the region in the years prior, but Greece was completely different than any country I'd visited. But these days I'm quite nostalgic and thankful for the experience.

Tonight I tried my hand at Chicken Souvlaki. Souvlaki in Greece is usually pork and is slow cooked over a rotiesserie for hours, shaved off, and then served in a warm pita (pretty much what we call a Gyro, but I never saw them called that nor did I ever see lamb). It is the Greek version of fast food and it is delicious. There really is no way to replicate the souvlaki, but I figured I could get close and I did! It wasn't anything like the souvlaki I remember, but it was really, really good! We cooked the meat on the grill and it was superb.

I also made tzatziki, a cucumber yogurt sauce, using my homemade yogurt. I thickened the yogurt by straining it through a coffee filter for a few hours. My goodness! This stuff was just as good as the tzatziki I ate in Greece.

We topped off the meal with homemade pitas. Rather than heating up the house by using the stove, we tossed the pitas on the already hot grill. They cooked for about 2 minutes on each side. Just as good as any authentic pita I've ever had!



This was a seriously simple (albeit a bit time consuming), easy, and delicious meal to put together. I highly recommend any of the recipes linked above!