17 December 2009

The Cook Book Challenge - Week 5 : Greek



Week 5 : Greek
Recipe : Lamb Souvlaki with Flat breads and Tzatziki
Cook Book : Rick Stein's Mediterranean Escapes and Ainsley Harriott's Gourmet Express



This week's challenge was a litle difficult.  For some reason, out of all the cookbooks I own, I don't really have many Greek recipes.... hmmm.  Maybe I should get one of George's books??   After searching for a while I came across a dish I wanted to make for the challenge.  Truth be told, I doubt that I would have tried this recipe if it wasn't for this challenge.  However, I'm happy to say that I'm so glad I did because it was simply delicious and it may even make it into our weekday rotation.

I made this early in the week as I knew I had a busy week ahead and wouldn't have any time to make it.  I'm also glad that I made all components of this recipe including the flatbread.  It would have been easier to go out and buy it but I wanted to have the homemade experience for hubby.  Besides I love baking bread and would love to practice and gain the experience.  On the whole, the dish was absolutely a pleasure to cook and of course, eat.

Mama Tahsia's Tzatziki.




1/2 cucumber
200g Greek Yoghurt
4 tbls chopped fresh mint
2 garlic cloves, crushed
pinch of dried oregano
pinch of caster sugar
juice of 1 lime
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut the cucumber in half, length ways and remove the seeds.  Grate the cucumber into a sieve set over a bowl.  Squeeze out any excess water by pressing the cucumber down into the sieve and transfer to a bowl.  Add the yogurt, mint, garlic, oregano, caster sugar and lime juice.  Season to taste and chill until ready.


Lamb Souvlaki.


2 kg boned shoulder of lamb
1 tbls dried oregano
juice of 1 large lemon
150ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper


Cut the lamb into cubes and place in to a bowl with the oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, 2 tsp salt and some black pepper and leave to marinate at room temperature for 1 hour.

Thread about 5 pieces of meat onto sskewers and on top of the stove or on the barbecue for 6 minutes, turning them 2-3 times during cooking. Cook in batches if necessary.  Transfer to a serving platter and keep warm while you cook the remainder.




Flatbreads .

350g bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp easy blend yeast
2 tbls extra virgin olive oil.

Sift the flour, salt and yeast into a bowl and make a well in the center.  Add 250ml warm water and olive oil and mix together to make a soft dough.  Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.  Put back into a bowl, covre and leave somewhere warm for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

Punch back the dough, turn it out onto a ligtly floured surface and knead once more until smooth.  Divide into 8 pieces and roll each one into a ball.  Cover and leave to rise for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 240deg.  Working with one ball of dough at a time, roll it out flat until it is about 22 cm across.  Place it on a greased baking sheet, spray lightly with a little water and bake for 2-3 minutes.  Keep warm in a tea towel.  Repeat for the rest of the bread.







Week 5 challenge, here I come.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

7 comments:

/* */ Iron Chef Shellie said...

ahhh ainsely! I have one of his books.. never cooked a damn thing outta it. I got it on eBay so couldn't really look through it :P

I have both of George's books and hope I can use one this week!

Nice Greek work this week! :P
x

/* */
Anonymous said...

I am so impressed that you made your own flatbread! Good work - looks delish

/* */ penny aka jeroxie said...

looks great! I can do with some of that right now. I will be starting the challenge this week. heh

/* */ Rilsta @ My Food Trail said...

Looks like a delicious meal and awesome effort to make your own flatbread! One of the great things about this challenge is that it pushes you to make things you probably wouldn't make otherwise, and sometimes surprises you with the results!

/* */ Unknown said...

You made your own flat bread...!! I'm going to have to start to try a bit harder I think than just grilling some haloumi...well done!

/* */ Agnes said...

I love baking bread too - but I haven't tried making flatbread yet. It all looks delicious!

/* */ Cherrie Pie said...

Shellie, I have most of Ainsley's books. I went through an Ainsley phase a few years back...hehe.

Imasugarjunkie, surprisingly, flatbreads weren't hard to make. Thanks.

Penny, glad you are finally cooking in your own kitchen. Welcome to the challenge.

Rilsta, it's definitely a challenge for me. I'm already cooking things that I definitely wouldn't be making without this challenge.

chitchatchomp, But that haloumi looked amazing!

Agnes, you should give the flatbread a go, it's quite simple actually

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