A Bit of Greece at Home

Nate and I went on our honeymoon to Greece in September 2006. We visited Athens and three of the islands. It was a wonderful--and tasty--experience. We fell in love with Greek food, beer and ouzo while we were there. Since then, we've had good Greek food at restaurants and enjoy making it at home.

One of our favorites from our honeymoon was souvlaki, usually grilled meat served on a pita with tomatoes and onions and tzatziki. Friday night, we recreated chicken souvlaki sandwiches with roasted potatoes. For an appetizer, we had grape leaves.

We live pretty close to two Greek grocery stores. The one we went to Friday is Olympia Fine Foods. It's not too big, but they have a good selection of fresh feta, Greek olives, tubs of freshly-made tzatziki and canned imports from Greece, like the grape leaves (below) we tried.

Also, maybe most importantly, the store had Mythos beer. I actually gasped when I saw the six-packs of it. We haven't been able to find it anywhere. We absolutely had to buy a six-pack.

For the chicken, I cut two breasts into about 1-inch pieces, and for about two hours in the fridge, marinated it in a bag with minced garlic, olive oil, freshly-squeezed lemon juice and oregano. Since it's a bit chilly, instead of grilling the chicken, we just cooked it on the stove top until it was done. The chicken was served atop a pita with tzatziki and topped with tomatoes, lettuce, red onion, crumbled feta and a bit more tzatziki.

For the potatoes, I cut them into cubes and mixed them with olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. I baked them at 375 for about 25 minutes.

Delicious!