It’s all Greek to me

 Mondays seem to be the worst day at the moment. I’m not entirely sure why: as neither of us work (husband is retired, I’m unemployed/unemployable), so it isn’t that. It’s partly the sense of, ‘Yet another week of the same’ and partly that new Covid measures are announced on Monday (having been leaked to the papers, minus all the details you really need on Sunday) so the day comes with a sense of looming dread. So, I try to cook something nice on Sunday night: something that feels like a treat, to try and send us into the new week on a good note. Last night, we had a Greek feast, making the pork souvlaki, plus accompaniments, from Georgina Hayden’s Taverna.

The finished feast

Start by chopping your pork (tenderloin/fillet) into cubes. Husband has recently decided he should be more involved with cooking, so I’m not doing all the work. I’m not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it’s nice he wants to help, it’s nice to have help… on the other hand – well, you’ll see. Husband chopped the pork, I made a marinade, of chopped rosemary and thyme (our thyme plant is still hanging in there), crushed garlic, olive oil and red wine vinegar.

While the pork marinades, start preparing the other bits of the meal, starting with the chips*, which husband had declared himself in charge of. Now, the husband is a man of strong opinions, sometimes irritatingly so. One of those strong opinions is about how oven chips should be cooked, and this was not the method suggested by the recipe book. I said I wanted to follow the recipe, because it sounded good, and it was worth trying something different. Husband said it was clearly a terrible recipe, and should be ignored. I pointed out that a published book by an actual chef which would have been tested many times was unlikely to be that wrong, whatever he thought. We did like the recipe. Spoiler: the chips were delicious, the recipe was excellent. It runs: peel and cut potatoes into 1cm chips, then par boil for two minutes. Drain and steam dry over the hot pan, before placing on a baking tray and tossing with olive oil and salt, making sure all of the chips are coated in the oil. Bake in a hot oven for 35 minutes, turning once. I commend this recipe to you all, I will be using it again. I was relatively restrained in pointing out that my husband was wrong, so I’m doing it here instead.

Action shot of husband turning over chips, and realising the recipe has worked and he was wrong

Anyway: other sides are tomato salad (chopped tomato and red onion mixed with lemon juice) and mustard sauce: Greek yoghurt, mixed with a small amount of mayonnaise, honey, and mustard. We also had some miso-dressed cabbage, which is not exactly Greek, but we had some in the fridge, and it is an excellent thing to do with cabbage (it’s a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe, shredded cabbage mixed with miso paste, vinegar, oil and a little grated ginger and garlic).

Accompaniments!

When ready, thread the pork onto skewers, and griddle until cooked through. I did this while cooking the flatbreads, in a marvellous example of multi-skilling. Serve with the mustard sauce drizzled (or dolloped in my case, as it was very good) over the pork, and finish with a sprinkling of paprika.

Double griddle pan action 

I also try to cook something nice and slightly indulgent on Monday, so I’m now off to make a spicy stir fry with some pork we didn’t need for the kebabs. I also have prawn crackers, for a full almost-Chinese-takeaway vibe.

*Unless you are going to have homemade pitta breads with your souvlaki, which would require some work earlier.  I did attempt this, but had a bit of a disaster because I was over-enthusiastic with the water when making the dough, so I used some of my ever-reliable flatbread dough from the freezer instead. I made a fresh batch of pittas today to put in the freezer, just to prove to myself I hadn’t lost my touch. Sometimes you just have to get back on the horse…

Successful pitta breads!