Greek Souvlaki Recipe

My second most favorite place that I've lived would be Souda Bay Crete Greece.
I joined the Navy at age 18. I requested to be sent off to Richmond for processing on my 19th birthday, January 7th 1999.  I remember being fresh out of boot camp and in the middle of my A-school, (for civilians that would be a school to teach me my rate; my profession in the Navy). As I approached the end of my school in Pensacola Florida, the Navy gave all of the students a chance to put down a written request for a desired duty station. It's usually rare from my experience for all students to get what they ask for, but when it came to my turn in asking, I wrote down "send me anywhere overseas." Now this was a pretty risky move. Especially when anywhere overseas could be Iraq, Afghanistan, Diego Garcia...anywhere normal people in normal situation would never ask for. But all I remember was being 19 years young and anxious to leave home to experience a new world full of adventure, and I had my youth and zeal for life packed in my bags ready to go. I was just excited to be "grown up", and Independent. Three weeks later while in school; still in F.L., I received my orders for my next duty station. It read, "NSA Souda Bay Crete, Greece." I remember thinking, "where is Souda Bay at? I've never heard of this place before?" I also remember thinking, Greece was a little unexpected too. I guess I had imagined Okinawa Japan, Hawaii, or Italy. Places that I had already been, but Greece will be good. A new place, a new adventure.

As I sat through the last connecting flight to Souda Bay Crete Greece, I remember we were flying over the Mediterranean ocean, I was so air sick by then, and sick and tired of breathing the passenger smoke from cigarette's and passengers coughing all over the place; I just felt the germs crawling all over me. Travel funk. No one likes that. But at least I wasn't sharing a seat with a goat or any sort of livestock; even though the passenger sitting next to me smelled of one. Some Europeans do not believe in deodorant being apart of their personal hygiene kit.

Just when I started to feel I couldn't be more uncomfortable, I looked out the window and I saw this beautiful aqua blue ocean underneath us. The sun was shining so bright, and the song Porcelain from MOBY was playing through my airplane headset, and I remember feeling so calm and happy. A sense of excitement came over me as I realized that we were getting ready to land, and this would by my home for a year.

So finally the plane landed, and I met my welcome crew at the airport entrance. Funny, but there really must not have been a lot to do at the base because I had my own little entourage there to meet me. Folks who were boyfriend's of my future co-workers, the base corpsman and her buddy corpsman, the duty driver, someone else and his friend. I just thought, wow, if this is any indication to what it must be like being stationed over seas. Small family type atmosphere. I soon realized that it was, but not with out it's dramas. Boy if I only knew before.

So I entered the gates to my new duty station, and people came out of the wood works to welcome me aboard. It was November 25th, somewhere around 10pm by this time. Thanksgiving night. I remember feeling a sense of excitement in being in a new place ready to start a new adventure, but I also allowed the thoughts of my family to keep me company and imagined what they must be doing today for thanksgiving back home. I quickly distracted my self with other thoughts of my new command trying not to welcome any sad regretful thoughts to enter my mind. As my sponsor showed me to my room, I started unpacking and made my self home.

I wouldn't spend thanksgiving alone however, my sponsor and other fellow co-workers came to pick me up and took me to a thanksgiving dinner party with some other folks at the command. It was nice to meet all these new people, but the exhaustion from traveling and jet lag was finally starting to get to me. I trucked on through the rest of the evening trying to be polite and as lively as I could be passing tired smiles and worrying about making a first impression.

NSA Souda Bay was a small base about a quarter mile long maybe. I don't know, I just remember that it wasn't even a mile long, and the roads on base were just recently paved. I soon realized that everyone knows everyone and their business. It was difficult to keep your business; your business. My first week there, there were already roomers about me being stuck up. But of course, it was a small base with very few females, and I was the competition. So needless to say not a popular vote amongst the females. Life on the base was exhausting at times. People often got stir crazy and bord there. Drama was always just around the corner.

My escape was going with friends to down town Hania. It was the down town area of Souda Bay. There I was able to meet plenty of locals, and experienced a little bit of the Greek hospitality. The locals were so nice and generous. It was also a tourist town, so everyone was trying to sell you something. It was a bright sunny day around 70 degrees and as I strolled through the harbor filled with restaurants and shopping stores; I remember smelling the sea air from the harbor.  Down town Hania, quickly became my favorite hang out spot because of the friendly atmosphere and great food aromas carried through the cobblestone alleys by the sea breeze.

Some co-workers and friends from base lead me to one particular hang out spot called "Mike Souvlaki's".  He was an old Greek Man who was running his souvlaki restaurant with his friend or brother Yanni. I remember how friendly and hospitable these they were. Mike's was a hang out pit stop so to speak for all of us Americana's from base after a night of drinking and partying with the locals and each other. Oh there were many, many occasions that I remember a group of us leaving the taverns after our last drink and goodbye at 6am staggering to Mike and Yanni's for their chicken Souvlaki. A late night or early morning meal before bedtime. Mike and Yanni would always greet us with open arms as we all staggered with large smiles and I love you's to Mike and Yanni. We'd been there so often as if it was a ritual, that there was no need to place our orders anymore. We would sit down at the bistro style tables and chairs and swap stories about our night and plan the next weekends' addendum, and Mike would bring us our usual orders of chicken souvlakis with french fries, tsasiki sauce, tomatoes and lettuce on a pitta bread. Let me tell you, there is no better place to be in this world than the moment you're in when you take that first bite of Mike's chicken souvlaki. If there was a such thing as food Nirvana, this would have to bit it. Chicken souvlaki I guess would be considered one of Greece's street foods. It became one of my comfort foods for me while I lived there. After Mike and Yanni fed us, and sent us on our ways back to base, there were times where my friends and I would find our selves taking a side trip to the beach beyond the harbor to greet the morning sun rise. We'd step carefully through the large smooth Mediterranean rocks on the beach, and find a spot to rest in the sand and just watch the sun rise over the horizon like glowing amber rising out of a sea of turquoise. No waves, just smooth ocean for miles. A gentle clean breeze combing through your hair. These are the awesome memories that come to mind when I think back on my younger experiences of Greece. I pray that I get the chance to return one day. The day I left Greece, felt like the day I left home. Since then, there has always been a soft spot in my heart for Crete and it's people.


CHICKEN SOUVLAKI
( Although, nothing is quite the same as Mike and Yanni's Souvlaki; I have found a way to duplicate it in my home. I would like to share with you this recipe so that you could enjoy this Greek comfort food in your home too. )

Tzatziki Sauce
-  2 cups Plain Greek Yogurt
- 1 cucumber
- 2 cloves of garlic
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- half lemon

( Take the cucumber and peel and chop in quarters. Place in the food processor and blend till a small pulp. Take a cheese cloth or strong paper towel and squeeze the fluid from the cucumber pulp out into the sink. When finished, put the cucumber back into the processor. Add the SALT, pepper, a squeeze of the half lemon and the yogurt into the processor. Then take the cloves of garlic, and crush, peel the skin, then mince and place in the yogurt mix. Blend well. Place in a bowl and refrigerate for one hour or longer while the chicken is cooking. For best results, make the night before, then drain excess fluid the next day and mix it. The tzatziki yogurt mix must be thick and creamy to garnish on top of the chicken souvlaki.)

Chicken Souvlaki Mix

-2 lb chicken breast (or pork tenderloin)
- 2 tsp lemon pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Olive oil

( after rinsing the meat, pat dry with a paper towel. Drizzle some olive oil over the meat of your choice. Mix the dry spices together first, then sprinkle evenly over the meat. If cooking in the oven, set the oven at 350 and cook for 45 minutes. Flip the meat half way through cooking to cook evenly. If you're using a rotisserie oven ( which is my preferred method, then set it also at 350 or on your meat setting and cook for 45 minutes.)

Pita Bread

I just purchase the pita bread of choice at a local market and warm it up in the microwave covered in a damp towel for about 35 to 55 seconds warming four at a time. This allows the pita bread to be warm and pliable to wrap around the souvlaki filling.

However, the way the Greek's did it, they would cook it briefly in frying oil to make it hot a pliable. This is much better if you want to go the extra effort.

French Fries

Cook your choice of french fries in the oven or in the fryer.

To Serve

Once the meat is ready, take the pita bread and slice layers of meat off of the spit onto the pita bread. Fill it with a few french fries, slices of tomato, lettuce, red onion and tzatziki sauce and serve.

I hope you are able to try this recipe. It's actually quite easy to make, and quite addictive once you've tried it. :)

Couscous Avec Poulet

So I'm trying a new thing for my new adventure into the world of blog. A short story and a recipe.


So I'll start with Cote D'Voir; West Africa. I remember my first visit to the Asini beach in Cote D'Voire. I was about 13 years old, in middle school and insecure and struggling to find my identity like all other teenage girls.

I remember arriving to the Asini beach, which was suppose to be apart of some African beach resort, but resembled more of a dive bar in a make shift hut on the beach. We had arrived with our own caravan of people from the U.S. Embassy, and they had decided to take us out for lunch for our welcome aboard type event. My father ordered the local favorite for us since my family was not yet fluent in the local cuisine. The African waiters came out with trays of beautifully arranged dishes displaying warm colors of amber, cream, reds, and greens. When my plate was placed in front of me, I couldn't help but be puzzled as to what the fluffy tan colored side dish was that resembled the gritty sand from which I was sitting on the beach.

I leaned over to my father and whispered, "what is this? I mean, I knew there was poverty here, but sand? Really?" like the typical estranged and close minded teenager that I was back then, and he said, "I don't know? Try it?" I waited for him to try it first to get a preparation of what's to come based on his facial expressions as he tried the first bite.

"Mmmmm, this is not too bad, but really very little taste. Kind of like pasta." My father said. So I decided to try it. "It's called couscous." Someone added as we were trying our first bites. It really didn't have a distinct taste to it. It was more like a rice dish or pasta dish where it takes what ever flavour of the main course. It was a new texture that I had to get use to, however it didn't take long. CousCous soon became one of my all time favorite comfort foods.

Let me share with you a comfort dish that our African House lady and cook; Addy, use to make for my sister and I. Addy was an African who my parents had hired to help prepare meals, clean house, and really she was our nanny; which is the norm in Africa. Many Africans are hired by the Embassy families to give the local jobs to help support their families with steady income. She became like a big sister to my sister and I. We loved her very much and missed her when we had to leave Africa. God bless her, and I hope she is well where ever she is today.

I will share with you one of her recipes that she use to prepare for us.

Cous Couse Avec Poule (with Tomato based sauce)

- 2 lbs chicken breast (cut in medium sized cubes)
- One large can of Tomato sauce (with chunks of tomato)
- 2 cloves fresh garlic chopped
- pinch sea salt
- pinch pepper ( to taste)
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh basil
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 Onion sliced in length
- 1 tbsp olive oil

In a pan over medium hi heat, simmer all ingredients in olive oil except for cous cous, tomato and chicken. Add the chicken once the onions are caramelized. Add chicken and toss till cooked on the outside. Then turn the heat down to medium, add can of crushed tomato and cover; let simmer for 30 25 minutes.

When there is 15 minutes remaining for the chicken, in a separate pot, boil water to prepare the cous cous. Prepare cous cous according to package instructions.

Check on the chicken. Stir occasionally.

When chicken is done and cous cous is prepared, spoon a healthy portion of cous cous on a plate, then a serving of the chicken over the cous cous. Enjoy!

Indian Chicken Tandoori

I've spent most of my life overseas in places like Okinawa Japan, Cote D' Voir West Africa, Rome Italy and Souda Bay Crete Greece. I've traveled to many more places, but stayed mainly in the Mediterranean. I LOVE Mediterranean food. In Africa it was the Cous Cous avec Poules that was my comfort food, In Japan it was the yakitori chicken grilled by the Okinawan vendor off the side of the road, Africa; it was the beef brochette grilled off the street side on some make shift grill from spare parts of random metal and scrap, Rome Italy; their Gnocchi is to die for, and Greece; I can't get enough of Mike's chicken souvlaki.

I've made it my hobby to replicate all of these comfort foods that I love around the world. I may not be able to afford the time and money to travel as much today, but I will find a way to bring all of my favorite foods around the world to me instead! Last night, I made my version of Indian Chicken Tandoori. It's pretty much based off of the basic recipe except I always make every recipe a little bit different to make it my own. The recipe is below....



* Six Pieces Chicken Thighs (on the bone)

* 1/2 tsp Turmeric

* 1/2 tsp Cumin (Cumino)

* 6 tbsp Greek yogurt plain

* 1/2 Red Pepper

* 1 tsp Garam Masala

* 1 tsp Red Curry Spice

* pinch sea salt

* 3 tbsp Paprika (for red color)

* 1 Lime

* Minced 1 tsp Ginger

* Minced 1 tsp Garlic



It's a two step process for mixing the spices, so you're going to need two medium size pie pan like dishes, (basically deep enough and wide enough room to marinate the chicken in both pans)

In first pan combine ginger and garlic and squeeze the juice from 1/2 of the line, then add a pinch of salt. Now cut a slice or two along your chicken pieces at an angle so the marinade can really soak in. Roll the chicken pieces generously around the ginger and lime marinade. Then set aside.



In the second pan, combine all other dry spices; cumin, red pepper, salt, garam masala, turmeric, red curry, and Greek yogurt, paprika, then squeeze the other half of the lime and mix well. Add more paprika to it depending on how red you want it. You can use food die, but it ends up looking like a weird pink past, but it is a popular option so if you don't have paprika that is an alternative.



Take the chicken and now roll it into the new spice marinade mix generously.



Place on a grill of open fire under medium high heat and cook until meat is thoroughly cooked, roughly 15 minutes...flip half way through for cooking time to cook both sides. Always check the meat to make sure it's cooked properly too. Everyone's grill's or ovens cook a little differently. There's nothing like getting sick off of uncooked chicken to ruin your sleep.



Now as for the Rice, cook basmati or jasmine rice according to the package instructions. But I like to cook my rice with garlic mushrooms in butter. So simmer some mushroom, FRESH garlic only, in butter, and add a pinch of salt. Then as you're water is boiling away for the rice add the mushroom garlic mix to your boiling water, then add your rice. Cook according to rice package instructions and Bam! You've got yourself an ethnic Asian and Mediterranean inspired gourmet meal to DIE FOR!



Believe me, if you love curry, you'll want to make this meal once a week at least, and share it with your friends and family to impress them with your culinary skills ;}