There's no crying in cooking...: It's all Greek to me!

Souvlaki with tzatziki and pita

So this week I made souvlaki with tzatziki sauce and homemade pita bread. Souvlaki, for those of you who have never had it, is basically marinated meat grilled on a stick. What is not to love about that! I use pork tenderloin in my recipe but I noticed other recipes sometimes use pork with a little more fat like the shoulder. Tenderloins usually comes two to a pack so I always have one in the freezer. Tzatziki is a yogurt sauce with cucumber and garlic. Most supermarkets have a great selection of pita bread to choose from, but I was on a bread making kick these last weeks. I had never made pita bread before and I was surprised by how easy it was. I was like a little kid peeking in the oven so see if the bread had puffed! It was very exciting. Even if you don't try making your own pita I highly recommend this souvlaki recipe it was delicious! It would also be great with rice or couscous.

Souvlaki
Pork tenderloin cut into 1 inch chunks
1/4 cup olive oil
4 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 tbs fresh oregano or 1 tbs dried
2 garlic cloves
1 onion cut into chunks
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
wooden skewers

Mix, oil, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, and salt&pepper. Add meat and onion. Mix well, cover and marinate for at least 8 hours. Give it a stir every couple of hours. Now the lemon juice will change the pink pork to a pale whitish color. Don't worry, It's going to taste amazing. Preheat your BBQ or grill pan to medium heat. Skewer the meat. I also skewer the onions by themselves. Grill 4-6 minutes a side. Serve with pita and veggies. I like mine with shredded lettuce and cabbage, sliced cucumber and tomato.

mix pork with marinade

after 8 hours marinating

grilling the skewers

Tzatziki sauce

I have always found greek yogurt a little to tangy for my liking, but plain yogurt is very thin. Here is what I do. Take a smallish strainer and line it with paper towels. Place your plain yogurt in and cover. Refrigerate overnight. A ton of liquid will come out and you now have nice thick yogurt. Tzatziki can be made in a food processor for more of a smoother sauce or just mixed by hand for more of a chunkier sauce. I used the food processor this time.

8 oz of yogurt ( greek or plain strained)

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 of a cucumber peeled, seeded, and chopped

juice from 1/2 lemon

2 tbs olive oil

1 tsp dill ( if fresh use 1 1/2 tsp)

salt & pepper

For smooth sauce: Put all ingredients in food processor or blender, and mix until desired consistency.

For chunkier sauce: Finely chop cucumber, mince or grate garlic. Mix yogurt with lemon juice, olive oil, dill, salt&pepper. Stir in cucumber and garlic. Taste for seasoning. Cover and refrigerate. The longer this sauce sits, the more the flavors blend.

Tzatziki sauce

Pita Bread

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs sugar or honey

2 tsp or packet yeast

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tbs olive oil

Mix yeast flour sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cups warm water. Stir until a ball begins to form. If it is too dry add more water until a ball forms. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and no longer sticky (8-10 min). Place in an oiled bowl and let rise until doubled in size ( 1 hour). Punch down the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll them into balls, cover and let rest 20 minutes. Preheat oven and stone or baking sheet to 450 degrees. Once oven is hot, roll each piece out as thin as possible. Your looking for 1/8 of an inch thick. Place on hot stone or baking sheet, bake for 3 minutes then flip over for another 2 minutes. They should puff up and turn brown. Place pita in basket or serving dish and cover with a towel until they are all baked. Enjoy!