Mediterranean · Main · From the menu Brasa
Marinated chicken souvlaki
Souvlaki de pollo, limón, orégano
Thigh meat marinated in lemon, oregano and garlic, threaded tight on skewers and cooked over charcoal. The most-eaten thing on the Brasa menu, by a distance.
One honest note. I use thigh, and none of the published souvlaki recipes I read argues for it — two specify breast and one says either without giving a reason. I use it because the fat keeps it alive on a grill at a party where nobody is watching the clock, and I would rather tell you that is my preference than pretend it is Greek orthodoxy. The other thing I changed is the marinating time: I had said overnight, and the recipes that give a maximum cap it at four hours, with eight as the outer limit. Past that the lemon starts breaking the texture down.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg boneless chicken thighs, skin off, cut into 4 cm pieces
- 130 ml olive oil
- Juice and zest of 2 large lemons
- 4 tbsp garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp dried Greek oregano
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp paprika, optional
- Black pepper
- Flatbreads, lemon wedges and yoghurt to serve
Method
- Mix everything except the chicken and taste it. It should be aggressively lemony and salty; it is about to be diluted by a kilo and a half of meat.
- Add the chicken, work it with your hands until every piece is coated, cover and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes and no more than four hours. Eight is the outer limit anyone publishes.
- Take it out of the fridge forty minutes before cooking. Cold meat on a grill cooks unevenly.
- Thread the pieces tightly onto skewers, five or six per skewer, pressed against each other. Loose pieces dry out; tight ones steam each other and stay juicy.
- Get the charcoal to a medium, even heat with no flames, banked to one side so you have somewhere to move things to.
- Cook the skewers for ten to twelve minutes, turning every few minutes, until charred in places and firm.
- Rest them three to five minutes on a warm plate, loosely covered. Squeeze lemon over while they are resting, not before.
- Serve on warmed flatbreads with yoghurt, or straight off the skewer with a bowl of lemon wedges.
Serve it with. Grilled corn, the salad table, and cold beer.