Jul

Grilled Greek Mediterranean Chicken with Vegetables

Grilled Greek Mediterranean chicken with vegetables

This simple and delicious meal is perfect for a quick grilled dinner. The basic marinade can be used on a variety of meats and cuts for a strong oregano-based Mediterranean flavor. I was originally going to make chicken kebabs but laziness got the best of me and I decided to grill/stir-fry marinated chicken pieces in my grill pan, and thus I was able to include asparagus, which worked well with the chicken, potatoes, onions and garlic.

Using a grill pan, this dish is a lot of fun to make on the grill - there’s plenty of smoke and sizzle, and you are driving the neighbors crazy with that awesome aroma of grilled meat, onions and garlic. Invite them over next time! Make sure to have a water spray bottle handy though, as the oil in the marinade will flare up. Channel your inner fireman and spray the flames down courageously, and close the top to remove oxygen; the flames will dissipate after a few minutes.

You could easily convert this to kebabs by stringing the meat and vegetable pieces on skewers, or use whole chicken breasts or other pieces of meat and cook the veggies in a tinfoil packets. But, stir-frying in this grill pan is amazing - all of the food gets the smokey grilled flavor. It’s fast but requires your full attention for about 10-15 minutes.

As for ingredients, you can use chicken, beef, lamb or shrimp — or no meat at all, just vegetables. Pieces should be bite-sized for fast and consistent cooking. If you use root vegetables such as potatoes or larger carrot pieces, you should parboil them for about 5 minutes, so they are partially cooked but not so soft that they fall apart when stirred. You can use any vegetables; I used what I had on hand, but had to restrain myself from adding red bell peppers and mushrooms — you should leave enough room in the pan for easy stirring. Fresh is best but frozen are OK too.

Simple Mediterranean Marinade

Olive Oil - 1/2 cup, extra virgin
Oregano - 2 Tblsp, dried
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp.
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Pepper - 1/4 tsp.

Chicken (or any meat) - 1 1/2 lbs., cut up into 1 inch square, bites-sized pieces
Potatoes - 4 small russets, cut into 1-2 inch chunks and parboiled for about 5 minutes)
Asparagus - 1/2 lb, about 26 spears, in 3 inch long pieces
Garlic - 4 cloves, sliced into large enough pieces that they won’t fall through the holes in the pan
Onion - 1 red, cut in half and then sliced into 1 inch thick pieces

Prepare the marinade in a large bowl
Add all of the meat and vegetables and blend well to cover.
Marinate for an hour or more (up to 24 hours).
Prepare grill to medium-high heat.
Get a water-spray bottle to use to douse flames - when the oil in the marinade drips into the grill it will flame up, so be ready to spray out the fire and close the grill top quickly. The flare-up will be somewhat heavy at first, but dissipates considerably after a few minutes.
Oil pan lightly, add put it on the grill.
Add the meat and vegetable mixture.
Spray any flare-ups and cover the grill. Let everything cook for 3-4 minutes.
Open the top, and use a long handled spatula or tongs to stir the ingredients in the pan. The flare-up should be small to non-existent. After stirring for a minute, close the grill and let it cook for 2-3 more minutes.
Open the top again and stir some more, for a few minutes.
At this point, your food should be close to done. Check the chicken. There should be no pink sides; all of the pieces should be white or light brown. If you’re not sure, just keep stirring and cooking for a few more minutes, and if you want a break, cover the top and let it cook a little longer that way. Total cook time is about 10-15 minutes.
Remove from grill and serve. Great with rice or just on its own.