Simple Chicken Souvlaki with Garlic Feta Fries

May 12

Kyle and I went to Greece for our honeymoon and I’m almost positive that we ate Greek yogurt with honey and all the gyros and souvlaki we could possibly consume, on a daily basis. Like most imported foods, nothing tastes the same when you’r eating it from miles away, but I tried my best to recreate it anyways and the results were pretty damn good.

Souvlaki sounds fancy, but it’s very easy to make. The ingredients used for the marinade are ones that are always stocked in my pantry and it comes together in minutes. After speaking to my mom last week, I was made aware that she rarely marinates meats for fear of e coli and I have a few things to say about that. First off, I can’t help but feel like if my mom’s not marinating meat that there must be a lot of other people out there that are skipping this step too. Marinating your protein is one of the easiest ways to achieve optimal flavour, develop beautiful colour and crust and it helps to tenderize the meat. Something to keep in mind though is to avoid marinating foods for longer than 24 hours. Acidity breaks down the meat but if its bathing in there for too long the consistency becomes rubbery and off-putting. Lastly, regarding the e coli fear: discard the marinade after use. The marinade that sat with your raw meat should not be used for basting or for any further use. Once it’s done it’s job of marinating the meat, discard it. If you wanted to use the marinade for basting after cooking, double the marinade recipe, reserve half for basting and the other half should be placed in with the raw meat. Capiche?

I used chicken breasts for the recipe, but you can certainly use chicken thighs of even another protein like pork, shrimp or lamb. I stuck with classic Greek flavours for the marinade: olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and garlic which are a match made in heaven and the addition of smoked paprika adds a beautiful red colour and obvious smokey flavour.

We grilled our souvlaki in hopes of encouraging some warmer weather to come, but it snowed the other day and we’re in May… so clearly our wish didn’t come true. So if the weather is just as unpredictable for you as it is for us, you can certainly cook these skewers inside on a cast iron skillet or grill pan. We served ours with some garlic fries topped with feta, mountains of homemade tzatziki and a side greek salad consisting of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and kalamata olives. Easy, delicious and on the table in under 40 minutes (not including marinading time, of course). If you wanted to serve these in a warm pita, that would also be a dinner winner.

Let’s talk about the fries, shall we? Though many people seem to be huge pans of the air-fryer, I’m still making fries the “old-fashioned” way by either baking them or frying them in a crap ton of oil. These garlic fries were baked to perfection and the key to getting a crispier oven baked fry is to soak them in water first. This step helps remove the excess starch from the potatoes, providing a crispier crust and fluffy interior. So while your oven is preheating, wash, cut and soak the potatoes. Next, dry them. If your potatoes are wet going into the oven, they’ll be mushy despite soaking them. I usually lay them in a single layer with a lint-free kitchen towel on the counter or a baking sheet and give them a nice massage to speed up the drying process. If you have time and want to take an extra step, a trick I’ve learned is to partially cook the potatoes at a lower heat for 15 minutes and then crank up the oven and bake them at a higher temp for the remainder cooking time. This helps them become fluffy in the inside and that much crispier on the outside. I chose to skip this step with this recipe, but if you’re wanting to make an abundant amount of crispy oven bakes fries, sans air fryer, you’re welcome. If you have an air fryer, do your thang.

Overall, this dinner is always a hit in our household. Our daughter, who’s not the biggest meat-eater, went in for the chicken and of course, didn’t shy away from helping herself to handfuls of fries.

Please tag me on Instagram or Facebook @lifefromtheplaypen to show me your souvlaki dinners. I really enjoy seeing my recipes on your kitchen tables!

Chicken Souvlaki & Garlic Fries

Life From the Playpen | May 12

Prep Time: 15 mins | Cook Time: 25 mins | Total Time: 40 mins
Servings: 4

FOR THE CHICKEN

3lb chicken breasts, cubed
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juice
1 tbsp fresh oregano OR 1 tsp dried
1 tbsp smoked paprika
4 cloves garlic, minced
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FOR THE FRIES

3lb potatoes, cut to matchsticks
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-3tbsp extra virgin olive oil
handful fresh oregano sprigs OR 1tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup crumbled feta
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INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat sheetpan in 425°F oven.
Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2" cubes and place them into a tightly sealed tupperware or resealable bag along with the marinade. Let this sit for in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to overnight. As the chicken marinates, soak your wooden skewers in water to minimize burning once they're on the grill.
Remove chicken from the fridge and add the pieces of meat to the skewers, making sure to leave a small 1cm gap between each piece of meat (this allows for even cooking). Let the kabobs rest while you prepare the fries.
Scrub and wash potatoes well and cut into matchsticks, 1/4" thick. Place matchsticks in a large bowl filled with cold water. Allow fries to sit in the water for 10-15 minutes to remove excess startch. Drain and pat potatoes down dry as well as possible with a lint-free kitchen towel.
Remove preheated sheet pan from the oven and drizzle pan with olive oil (remember, the pan is hot so be careful!). Add potatoes to the pan and toss them together with additional olive oil, garlic and oregano. Bake in a single layer, making sure to flip fries helf way through,for a total of 25 minutes or until fully cooked and lightly golden. Remove fries from the oven and season with flaky sea salt and crumbled feta.
As the potatoes bake, preheat BBQ or grill pan over medium-high heat. Place chicken skewers on the grill and cook for 7 minutes on one side. Rotate and cook for an additional 5 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked through.
Serve souvlaki with additional feta, crispy fries and a ton of tzatziki. Add a simple greek salad for a well rounded meal and enjoy!