A greek inspired barbecue

The first couple of days of Spring where all sunshine and beautiful blue skies. My husband and I were looking forward to some fresh flavours and planned a simple barbecue for dinner. Cooking some of our old favourites, I set to work. However by mid afternoon the spring weather had disappeared, it was raining and grey. I was wearing a tracksuit and had turned on the heater.

It didn't matter, we barbecued our chops in the rain and poured a glass of wine.

Even though we didn't get to eat outdoors as planned, we were excited about the warm months to come. We are looking forward to easy, impromptu barbecues with mediterranean flavours that we love so much. Here the recipes that we cooked on the weekend... like I said, some old favourites.



Lemon and Garlic Lamb Marinade

serve 6

• 1 kilogram lamb chops
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 dried or 4 fresh bay leaves (broken)
• salt and pepper

to serve

• lemon wedges

Mix all of the ingredients together and marinate the lamb overnight. Barbecue and serve.



Tzatziki

• 25o grams thick Greek yoghurt
• 1 continental cucumber or 2 Lebanese cucumber's (peeled, de-seeded, grated)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 garlic cloves (peeled and roughly chopped)
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon dill (finely chopped)

Squeeze the grated cucumber of any excess water and spread it out on a clean tea towel to remove as much moisture as possible. Leave for 15 minutes. In a mortar and pestle crush the garlic with a pinch of salt. Mix all of the ingredients together.

If you can, it is best to make the tzatziki the day before, to let the flavours develop.



Briami
Greek Baked Vegetables

serves 4-6

• 4 courgettes (cut into chunks)
• 450 grams potatoes (cut into large chunks)
• 1 red pepper (cut into chunks)
• 1 red onion (roughly chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (sliced)
• 3 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
• 1 x 400 gram tin tomatoes (chopped)
• 150 ml olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried greek oregano

to serve

• 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley (chopped)

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Place all the ingredients except the oregano into a large baking dish. Mix well. Sprinkle with the oregano. Bake for 1 hour. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve immediately or at room temperature.



Greek Country Salad

serves 4-6

• 4 tomatoes (cut into 6-8 wedges)
• 1 large continental cucumber (cubed)
• 1 red onion (sliced)
• 2 red pepper (roughly chopped)
• 1 cup kalamata olives
• 2 cups cos lettuce (roughly torn)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and serve immediately.