Non-Meatball Greek Chicken

 

It's been necessary that I cook out of the freezer/pantry this week ... The other morning I pulled out chicken mince and a box of frozen spinach with the intention of making Spanikopita Meatballs.  When I got to time to cook dinner, I had run out of time !!  I decided to try a short cut.  It worked.  Instead of making meatballs and baking them in the oven, I just cooked everything in the big electric fry pan.  It tasted THE SAME !  Just not rolled up into balls !

So, here's what I did ...

chicken mince (ground chicken), 500g

red onion, diced

garlic cloves, diced

frozen spinach, thawed

greek seasoning

olive oil

Sautee garlic and onion in olive oil for a couple minutes then add the chicken mince.  When chicken is almost cooked through, add the spinach and seasoning.  Cook until chicken is fully cooked. 

Serve on rice with soy sauce and tsatsiki ...

Easty Tsatsiki 

No measurements ... just mix greek yoghurt, finely diced cucumber and a couple squeezes of lemon juice.

Chicken Souvlaki

I tried a new recipe tonight and it is FOR SURE going in my "tried and true" recipe binder!
Here is the original recipe from Cooking Light with my modifications in red.

Chicken Souvlaki

4 servings (serving size: 2 stuffed pita halves)

* 1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese (I used tomato basil crumbled feta)
* 1/2 cup plain Greek-style yogurt (My favorite brand is Greek Gods)
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
* I added the juice of half a lemon to the dressing as well...gave it a nice zing!
* 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided
* 1 1/4 teaspoons bottled minced garlic, divided (I used fresh, minced garlic)
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* 2 cups sliced roasted skinless, boneless chicken breast (I grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts on the BBQ, seasoned with coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper.)
* 4 (6-inch) pitas, cut in half (There is a place in town that sells FRESH baked pita bread, SO yummy!)
* 1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce (I used a nice spring lettuce mix you can buy pre-washed and packaged at the grocery store.)
* 1/2 cup chopped peeled cucumber
* 1/2 cup chopped plum tomato
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion (I omitted this as onions do not sit well with me in this pregnancy!)

Combine feta cheese, yogurt, dill, 1 teaspoon oil, and 1/4 teaspoon garlic in a small bowl, stirring well. (This is where you would add the juice of half a lemon, if you were so inclined.)

Heat remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 teaspoon garlic and oregano to pan, and sauté for 20 seconds. Add chicken (Again, I grilled the chicken on the BBQ, sliced it thin, and then added it to the oil, garlic, and oregano) , and cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Place 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each pita half, and top with 2 tablespoons yogurt mixture, 2 tablespoons shredded lettuce, 1 tablespoon cucumber, and 1 tablespoon tomato. Divide onion evenly among pitas.

This was absolutely tasty! I will be making it a lot this summer!

spankikopita meatballs with tsatsiki dressing

Rory and I made an interesting discovery last night. When you have a gas stove and you run out of gas, you can't cook on your stove anymore til you get more gas. We discovered this half way through making dinner !! We were making this. So ... Rory took the half cooked chicken out to the BBQ and finished cooking it. I cooked the Israeli cous cous in the microwave. Thank goodness I'd already finished cooking up the lemon.capers.almonds in butter. They're the best bit !!

The new gas bottle doesn't come until THURSDAY ! Good thing tonight's meal was one for the oven and tomorrow's can be done on the BBQ !!

These meatballs are yum. I loved them. I served them with tsatsiki, rice and roasted garlic brocolli. I need to stop. I'm making myself hungry again !

I found this amazing recipe here.

Here's how I did mine ...

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely dinced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 box frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
500g ground chicken
1 tbsp hoyts BBQ and grill greek giro sprinkle (i tried to find this online to show you but came up empty ...i'm sure any sort of greek seasoning will do ...)

Preheat oven to 400F/200C degrees.

Defrost the spinach in the microwave, squeeze out excess water. Place in a large mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix really well.

Roll into about 18 (1 1/2 inch) meatballs and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes, turn over and bake for another 10-14 minutes or until the meatballs are golden brown and cooked all the way through.

Greek Croustade

This is my Aunt Lori's recipe ...
I'm cutting and pasting from the email she sent me !

GREEK CROUSTADE

The original recipe has it all wrapped in phyllo dough which is fabulous but more time consuming so we just make it as a side dish. If you double the recipe it makes a nice 9x13 pan. I have also put a spoonful on a strip of phyllo and folded it up into a triangle. You can even freeze those and pull them out at a later date and bake them.

10oz frozen chopped spinach - cook according to pkg - squeeze out excess water
1/4 c chopped onion
3T butter
3T flour
1/4 t crushed tarragon
1 cup milk
2 eggs - beaten in a bowl
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta

In a saucepan, cook onion and butter until tender. Stir in flour & tarragon. Add milk all at once. Stir til thick and bubbly. Stir 1/2 of hot mixture into eggs and then return all to saucepan. Stir in cheeses and spinach. Stir thoroughly to break up spinach. Bake in an oiled pan at 375 for 35-40 minutes. I always watch for the top to start to brown.

***

I put a sheet of puff pastry under mine since I don't really like working with phyllo ... I think next time I'll put a sheet of puff pastry on top too !! The kids loved this 'pie', as they called it !!