Greek Dinner- Grilled Lamb Meatball Kabobs and Lemon Chicken

When I purchased my new car it came along with satellite radio and now I've become slightly obsessed with the Martha Stewart station. Yesterday they had Greek chef and restauranteur Maria Loi as a guest waxing poetically about Greek food. Inspired, I stopped off at Whole Foods on the way home to pick up some ingredients for a Greek Mixed Grill. I think I now get why people joke about Whole Foods as "Whole Paycheck" because this place is seriously draining my account! I have put myself on a $25 per diem allowance and have found it's been pretty fun shopping for daily specials and creating a menu around them. Ground lamb and veal were on sale, so I decided to grill some meatballs, organic bone-in chicken was on sale, so I threw that in the basket as well, plus some stuff for my low carb breakfast the next day. Oh and they had amazing artichokes begging to be grilled, so I bought some of those too. Total bill $24.92!

Prep work took about 35 minutes and was way worth it!

Ingredients:
- 1 medium sweet onion
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 green/spring onion
- 2 tbs Cavendar's Salt free Greek Seasoning
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Small bunch of Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon Dried Greek Oregano
- Sea salt to season
- 1 egg
- 2 bone in chicken breasts
- 1/4 pound each ground lamb and veal

 First in a food processor, I pulsed a medium sweet onion, 3 cloves of garlic, a green onion, about a tablespoon of dried Greek oregano, the zest of one lemon, plus a small bunch of Italian Parsley added at the end. I seasoned with sea salt and Cavendar's salt free Greek seasoning.

 I then quartered the artichoke, scooped out the prickly, furry middle and set it inside a cold water bath with lemon juice to stop the chokes from browning. I placed them in my steamer to steam about 20 minutes.

I've found that if I don't have time for a long marinade, injecting meat works wonders! So we melted about a quarter of a stick of butter, added a few pinches of sea salt and injected the two chicken breasts until they almost burst. I could see how it would be fun for plastic surgeons to inject people with fillers! They end up looking just as plump as my chicken breasts! I then poured my onion mixture onto the chicken and under the skin, being sure to save about 4 tablespoons of the mixture for my meatballs and added fresh cracked pepper, sealed the chicken in a ziploc and placed it in the fridge to marinate for two  hours.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat the egg then add the reserved onion mixture and blend in with the ground veal and lamb. Form them into 6 meatballs and skewer them with onion on metal skewers. Wrap in foil and pop in the freezer for about 20 minutes to really help cure them, then move to the fridge.

Meanwhile after 20 minutes, remove the artichokes and dunk them in cold ice water to stop the cooking. Place them in a ziploc and squeeze the juice of the zested lemon in the bag and pour several tablespoons of olive oil into the bag, plus 2 chopped garlic cloves, sea salt and a dash of garlic powder.

Go pour some cocktails or jump in the pool for about an hour and a half.

 General Bubbles likes to keep a watchful eye on things.

Michael really could be a hand model...

Then we lit the Big Green Egg and set the plate for indirect cooking at about 450 degrees. We placed the chicken on first and cooked it skin side up about 25 minutes, then we put the artichokes on, choke side up, plus the kabobs and cooked another 20-25 minutes rotating the artichokes and kabobs and flipping the chicken to brown the skin.

 Dinner is ready! Opa!!

 We served it with my smoked tomato and burrata salad plus grilled flat bread, Tzatziki sauce and had plenty of leftovers for the next day.  Absolutely delicious and makes me happy to be married to a Greek family!

Greek Meatballs "Keftedes" with Tzatziki Yogurt Dip

Opa!!!!! Being married into a Greek family means I've learned some pretty fabulous Greek recipes. These meatballs are super easy to make, freeze really well and taste terrific on pizza, with pasta and classic marinara or with grilled pita and classic Tzaziki sauce. We always have some on hand for easy meals.

Keftedes Ingredients

1 pound ground sirloin

1 pound ground pork (or lamb- very Greek!)

1 large egg

3 spring onion

1 medium yellow onion

2 garlic cloves

1 cup parsley

3 tbs dried Greek oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs to hold the shape. If you are gluten free, omit. They'll still taste fabulous.

I chop up everything but the meat in the food processor, add the mix to the meat, form little meatballs and fry them up in small batches in a large frying pan filled halfway with grapeseed oil and heated to 350 degrees. typically about 6 minutes. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with fresh sea salt and then promptly eat a few. The smell is as comforting as if a little Greek Yia Yia wrapped her chubby little arms around you. The rest we freeze in an airtight ziploc. They last 3 months in the freezer (well, not really, we usually eat them waaay before then). 

Tzaziki Sauce

2 cups strained, high quality Greek Yogurt. I like Fage brand.

1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated

Zest of a lemon plus 1 tbs juice 

1 tbs white vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbs each finely chopped fresh oregano and mint (dill is also tasty)

 salt and pepper to taste.

Mix it all together and voila!!

See the cute little potatoes we baked? We could have "turned" them into this shape with a tiny little peeling knife, but instead I found this terrific brand of frozen French potatoes already nicely turned called Bonduelle. I get them at Central Market or Whole Foods. Their peas are the best in the world too. 

Serve with grilled, buttered pita and a Greek salad. 

Soon to come this fall: Tiropites!! Cheese stuffed filo triangles that will change your life... Yes, they are a pain in the you know what to make, but they are insanely delish!!