Chicken & Halloumi Souvlaki

We're about a week into January and I'm still eating leaner dishes, avoiding butter (mostly) and trying to be a good boy this January.

Tonight's dish is another way to kick-up the sometimes boring chicken breast. Cut it up, marinate it, grill it and pair it with something else delicious. In this case, chicken and Halloumi cheese are the elevated to "dymanic-duo" status.

Most souvlaki shacks in Greece and abroad now offer a chicken version of this skewered meat and although I often choose pork or lamb, the chicken option is great when I'm in the mood for lighter fare.

When you add Halloumi cheese into the mix, chicken souvlaki's stock immediately rises in the foodie's Bourse. For those unfamilar with Halloumi, is a firm cheese that is made in Cyprus, Lebanon and enjoyed throughout the Middle East.

It's made from a goat & sheep's milk blend and when it's chewed, it often squeaks against your teeth (which I find neat) and it's best trait, it's delicious.

The reason I've chosen Halloumi cheese here is that it's a cheese that holds up well over heat. Be it fried or grilled, Halloumi holds together and for the purpose of this take on souvlaki, it's your best bet.

This dish can be completed on your outdoor grill or one of those grilling pans you place on your stovetop. Being quite aware that there are Northern and Southern hemisphere readers of this blog, again this dish works for both!

This Chicken & Halloumi souvlaki was eaten in the context of a meze, an appetizer or part of a succession of Greek bites between sips of Tsipouro, a winter green salad tossed in a light vinaigrette, some warmed pita bread and some fruit for dessert.

The chicken breasts are cut into pieces that are the same size as your Halloumi pieces (so that they cook in the same amount of time) and the chicken is marinated for a couple of hours in flavours native to Greece, such as thyme, bay leaves, honey and red wine vinegar.

Chicken & Halloumi Souvlaki
(makes meze for 8 or 4 light main servings)

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts,
cut into cubes

Marinade
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
4 Tbsp. olive oil
8 bay leaves
1 scallion, finely chopped
2 sprigs of lemon thyme
1 Tbsp. of honey
1 shot of Ouzo
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp sea salt

salt and pepper
approx. 500 gr. of Halloumi cheese,
cut into cubes
(same size as chicken pieces)
warm pita bread
wedges of lemon
wooden skewers

1. Rinse and pat dry your chicken breasts and then cut them lenghtwise in half. Now cut them across into cube-sized pieces and set aside.
2. In a zip-lock bag, all of the marinade ingredients and stir to blend. Taste and adjust seasoning and then add your pieces of chicken into the bag. Seal and squish the contents to coat all of the chicken pieces. Marinade in the fridge for 2 hours and then bring back to room temperature before grilling.
3. Cut your pieces of Halloumi cheese into pieces that are the same size as the the chicken. Strain the marinade (and discard) from your chicken pieces and alternately skewer a piece of chicken and Halloumi onto each skewer.
4. Pre-heat your outdoor grill (or indoor stove-top grill) to a medium-high heat and ensure the grill surface is free of residue and lubricated with a vegatable oil before grilling. Season your skewers with salt and pepper.
   
5. Grill your chicken and Halloumi skewers for about 2 minutes a side and serve on plates with beds of warm pita bread and wedges of lemon.

NOTE: The wooden skewers do not need to be soaked in water prior to grilling as they are not apt to burn while on the grill for such little time.


If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.blogspot.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author. © 2007-2009 Peter Minakis

Grilled Halloumi Salad

A little while back I introduced the "squeeky cheese" called Halloumi. I call it the squeaky cheese because that's the noise it makes when you chew it...it squeaks!

Halloumi is a firm, slightly briny cheese that's enjoyed immensely in Cyprus and the middle east. Here, I'm showing you a grilled Halloumi.

This cheese is great for grilling as it's firm, sears nicely (and quickly) and it won't fall apart on you.

If you do a search on the on internet, you'll see several varying dishes with grilled Halloumi. Pick the one you like. I'm just showing this salad as an intro to grilling this cheese.

I used a stop-top grilling pan for this salad and I was quite pleased with the result. Obviously, an outdoor grill will leave some better markings but I was craving this salad, and the task was completed.

Halloumi can be found in Greek, middle eastern and gourmet shops that carry better cheeses. One piece (about the size of a sponge) will go for about $7.

Try it in a pasta, in the morning with toast or as I've shown you here...grilled with a salad.

Grilled Halloumi Salad

1 ripe plum tomato, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
1 slices of halloumi cheese
olive oil for brushing cheese
extra-virgin olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt
pepper garlic
powder dried
Greek oregano

1. In a small jar, add a ratio of 3-1 olive oil to vinegar and add salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano to taste. Shake the jar to emulsify and adjust flavouring. Set aside.
2. In a stop-top grill pan or outdoor grill, get your grilling surface to a medium high heat.
3. Oil the grill surface with some vegetable oil and brush your Halloumi cheese with olive oil.
4. Grill for 1 1/2 minutes a side and arrange on your plate with the salad.
5. Drizzle the dressing over the cheese and salad and finish off with some dried Greek oregano.
   

The Squeaky Cheese

I've been really diggin' Halloumi cheese of late. It's a semi-firm, slighty salty cheese that's popular in Cyprus and much of the Middle East.

One of the characteristics about this cheese is that when you're chewing it in your mouth, you hear this squeaking noise. Personally, I amused by it and besides, it tastes great!

Today I'm showing you a Greek pasta dish using Χυλοπίτες or egg noodles. For as long as I can remember, I've enjoyed a quick supper of egg noodles that were tossed in brown butter and crumbled feta. It was a simple weeknight or lazy person's pleasure.

Here, I'm taking that same egg noodle and cheese dish and jazzing it up. I'm a grown boy, I now have culinary "baggage"!

This is my first time including mint with pasta but I convinced myself to try it because Halloumi comes in a brine with mint so...the two should remain together right?

Chalk this pasta as one that's ready by the time your noodles are ready. The ingredients fresh, limited complexity, boundless flavour.




Hilopites With Halloumi and Mint (Χυλοπίτες Με χαλουμι και δυόσμο )
(for four)

1 package (500 gr) of egg noodles 1/2 stick of butter
3 Tbsp. olive oil
approx. 1 cup of cubed Halloumi cheese
some all purpose flour
1/2 cup cubed Manouri cheese
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint (half if dry)
8 bunches of green onions, chopped splash of Tawny Port wine
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Get a large pot of water boiling. Add a generous amount of salt when the water comes to a boil. Add your egg noodles and cook according to package's instructions.
2. Cube your Halloumi and Manouri. Dredge your Halloumi in flour and shake off the excess flour. Reserve your Manouri.
3. In a large skillet, add your olive oil and a couple of pads of butter on medium-high heat. Brown your cubes of Halloumi and reserve.
4. Add the remaining butter, your green onions and mint and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add your Port wine and reduce for a minute. Take off the heat and reserve.
5. When your noodles are cooked, save some pasta water, strain and then add the noodles to the skillet and add your Halloumi and Manouri cheeses and toss to coat.
   
6. Add some pasta water if needed.
7. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
   

Halloumi, Grilled to Perfection

This evening was glorious. It was the first day this year where one wakes up to warm sun, birds chirping and the sun shining with nary a cloud in the sky.

I already knew this would mean BBQ time, eat dinner "al fresco" time and relax time. It was a busy week but also very productive. I'm working on some new things for this blog and the emphasis is on "beyond".

Part of my dinner this evening was a grilled Halloumi on a bed of rocket (wild greens). Halloumi is a cheese native to the island of Cyprus and it's made from a combo of cow, goat and sheep's milk. Greeks have been enjoying wild greens for ages and when paired properly, the are simply delicious.

The salad was tossed in my Sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and then topped with warm, a la minute grilled Halloumi cheese.

Earlier this year, I pan-seared some Halloumi but it doesn't compare to using a real grill.

Grilling Halloumi is very easy...slice your cheese, brush with olive oil and when your grill is white hot, grill the Halloumi for 1 minute a side.

Tonight's combo was bitter rocket, balanced by the sweet sun-dried tomatoes and the midly salty Halloumi, squeaking as always with every little chew.

OPA!

Ever see this flaming dish at a Greek taverna? Ever hear the Greek waiter shout OPA? This next dish is inspired by the many Greek restaurants, eateries and tavernas that serve up this style of fried cheese to a clientele that never ceases to tire of this ritual.

Whoever said presentation never mattered to a dish must have never opened a Greek restaurant. I know of non-Greeks who whenever they go for Greek, they always order the "Flaming Saganaki" dish.

Saganaki is most commonly know as the appetizer of fried cheese. The usual cheese that's used is a Kefalograviera, which is a semi-salty cheese that's fried, flambeed with Ouzo or Metaxa brandy then doused with a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Saganaki can come in varied forms as a dish. The word saganaki is a diminutive of sagani, a frying pan with two handles. The Turks call it a sahan.

When your waiter lights up the Saganaki, you're surely going to hear a robust OPA! It (OPA) literally means "to jump" and it's used in many ways to say "bravo", "WoW", "all right" or in today's lingo, "You Go"!

When a Greek says OPA, they are usually dispensing complements, admiring your zest for life, your dancing or drinking prowess or showing their admiration of a performance.

I'm taking a departure from usual cheese for Saganaki and I'm using a Cypriot Halloumi cheese. It's a firm, slightly salty cheese, it's buttery and, it's one of my favourite of the Greek cheeses.

Before you attempt some serious harm on yourself, always pour your liquor of choice into a shot glass and then empty it into the vessel you're using for a flambe. NEVER pour hard liquor from the bottle into the flambe vessel...the flame can travel all the way up into the bottle and cause your very own kitchen nightmare.

Now that we're beyond living dangerously in the kitchen, WoW your house guests and light up the Saganaki, and get everyone to shout out, OPA!!!!!!!!!!!

Fried Saganaki With Halloumi

1-2 slices of Halloumi cheese
egg wash
all purpose flour
sesame seeds
1 Tbsp. olive oil
a shot of Ouzo or brandy
juice of 1/4 of a lemon

1. Organize 3 plates for 1) dredging your cheese in flour; 2) coating the cheese in eggwash ; 3) coating the cheese in sesame seeds.
2. Slice your cheese and coat in flour, then egg wash and finally coat it in sesame seeds.
3. Place your fry pan (Saganaki) on medium-high neat and add your olive oil. Drop a sesame seed to see if the oil is hot enough (if the seeds crackles, you're ready for frying).
4. Fry your cheese for 2 minutes and then flip to fry on the other side for just over a minute.
5. Take the Saganaki off the heat and pour in your shot of liquor and ignite the alcohol.
6. Squeeze fresh lemon juice and serve immediately with toasted pitas or crusty bread.
   

Happy Birthday Canada

July 1st is Canada Day or our nation's birthday. Tomorrow this young country will turn 141 and I'm every bit a proud Canadian as I am Greek.

Canada is a nation of the Native peoples, the French and English majority and the multicultural mosaic that's made up of all the other ethnicities.

I'm grateful for the opportunity Canada gave to my parents and my family to begin a new life where hard work was rewarded, that one could achieve any goal if they set their mind to it, a country full of tolerance, peaceful and safe.

Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict emailed me to see if I was interested in participating in a food event that captured the essence of Canadian flavours and foods.

Canada has some of the best that International cuisine has to offer and this is large part due to the rich tapestry of ethnicities within our borders.

After asking my parents and brother what food(s) captured the essence of Canada's food...a unanimous reply was French Fries and Gravy.

What's unique about Canada's fries & gravy is the Montreal specialty of Poutines. Poutines are basically a dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy.

This dish will NOT appear on the menu of any diets currently being exercised but you only live once, life's not a dress rehearsal and Poutines are too damn delicious to not indulge in every now & then.

Cheese curds have the combined texture of Mozzarella and Halloumi and although widely available in Canada, some difficulty will be had in finding them elsewhere.

What you need here are french fries, cheese curds (Mozzarella is the closest alternative) and a deep brown gravy made from a rich beef stock.

There's no real recipe here other than to do your French Fries properly, seek out cheese curds and make a kick-ass, deeply flavourful and thick beef gravy.

Happy Canada Day!

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: My Big Fat Greek Thanksgiving

When Foodbuzz announced the launch of "24, 24, 24", even they did not foresee the huge success it would garner. Twenty four people hosted twenty-four dinners in twenty-four in twenty-four hours.

The dinners were enthusiastic celebrations of the foods people adore and and enjoy in each corner of the world they inhabit.

I imagine many food bloggers submitted proposals and Foodbuzz sadly had to turn away some people. I was still on vacation in Greece when the event was announced but I submitted a proposal soon after Foodbuzz relayed the news that "24, 24, 24" would be a monthly event.

My approach was to feature a Thanksgiving Dinner with some Greek flare. Here in Canada, we celebrated Thanksgiving on October 13th and our US neighbors will be celebrating next month.

In Canada, the emphasis of Thanksgiving lies squarely on giving thanks to the harvest and celebrating the precious bounty at the table.

Canada is a multi-cultural society and I truly believe it's one of the best countries in the world to live in. As Greeks living in Canada (along with peoples of other ethnicities), many of us have also embraced Thanksgiving. It's a noble holiday to commemorate and I one I do not take lightly.

Last night I hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner using Greek ingredients and Greek recipes using seasonal products. My goal was to awe my guests with dishes that screamed of being Greek while staying true to a Thanksgiving Dinner.

I also had the pleasure of enjoying an all Greek wine night with my guests. With the assistance of Steve Kriaris of the Kolonaki Group and Alex Pulcini of Pavlou Estates, I was able to pair a 5-star wine selection with this Thanksgiving feast.

I would also like to thank my cousin, Nicholas Hadzis who took the time to write out the ornate menus you see here.

Another thanks goes out to Marianthe Mesbouris who tooks tons of photos while I was prepping and serving up each course...thanks Red!

A thank you to my brother Danny and his girlfriend Natalia, my cousin Effie, my good friend Amy and sisters Evelyn & Roula. You all made the evening memorable and as always...the laughs kept on coming!

Let's get on with the food, shall we? Today, I'm going give you a quick run down of the food served in the order that they arrived at the table but I will give you the recipe details in the week ahead.
































































First up, we had the mezedes or Greek appetizers:

Horiatki Dip...inspired by leftover Greek salad....don't throw that out...make it a dip!

How about crostinis with caramelized onions and (Throumpes) Greek olives with thyme and oregano?

Or here's a play on Dolmades, made to look like "Greek sushi".

What would a Greek evening be without the use of phyllo?

These spinach and cheese phyllo cups were snapped up in no time!

Next up in the long line of service was the soup course. Fancy a Beet soup with Greek oregano and Greek yogurt?

An autumn Greek salad with seasonal greens and a vinaigrette of olive oil, mustard, balsamic vinegar and Petimezi.

What's a Thanksgiving dinner without the turkey? Here, I brined the turkey with Mosxato wine, bay leafs, peppercorns, garlic, thyme, parsley, allspice and orange juice. The turkey was also stuffed with rice, chestnuts, raisins, giblets and pine nuts.

The "fixins" to accompany the turkey were a mashed potatoes and celery root with buttermilk, roasted garlic, thyme and chives.

These roasted root vegetables were aromatized with a blend of sage, cinnamon, nutmeg and fennel seeds.

Can't have a Thanksgiving without Cranberry sauce. I put my Greek twist on this by adding a hint of clove and orange zest.

The main course was followed by a Greek cheese platter featuring Vlaxotyri, Kasseri from Mytlini and Cypriot Halloumi.

Despite having satiated guests, one always has room for dessert. In Greece, Bougatsa is a much loved breakfast treat filled with custard (crema) and here I've turned into an autumn dessert. It's Bougatsa with poached quince and almonds, finished off with a dusting of icing sugar and cinnamon.

That was My Big Fat Greek Thanksgiving. Watch all this week for me to give you the nitty-gritty on each recipe, notes on the wine pairings and any other afterthoughts on the dinner.

Time for clean-up...