Not Your Average Souvlaki

One of the goals I have with this blog thing, outlet, mania, passion is to shed light onto what I think is good food and a natural focus on good Greek food. Greek food as I know it at a Greek family’s table or as I’ve experienced in Greece.

There is much more to Greek food than souvlaki, gyros and Greek salad. Many Greek restaurants outside of Greece are missing the boat. They’ve lost touch with Greek inspired cooking and Greek ingredients.

What is Greek food? I think any dish that includes Greek ingredients is Greek. I think any dish that’s Greek inspired is Greek. Often, one cannot find all the ingredients that are bountifully available in the Mediterranean. Improvise, substitute and keep the ingredients fresh!

One of my earliest recollections (when I started to enjoy seafood) was trying swordfish for the first time. It was in Skiathos, my very first Greek island. It was served as a souvlaki with a simple rice pilaf, good dry white wine, a horiatiki salata and of course bread.

Any time I go to buy seafood, I see shark laid out. The steaks are big, the flesh is a pink-white, it’s fresh and it’s affordable. I know of at least one person (and she’ll read this) that’s squeamish with the mention of eating shark but these are small, 1 metre long fish…hardly the man-eater type so all you people who think I’m in someway partaking in cannibalism, get over it!!

Shark is good eating. It’s a clean, white-meated fish…it’ll remind you of chicken or lean pork. Try the marinade I’m offering. I found this recipe here and I’m very happy with the results. It’ll sound oriental but the flavours mellow upon grilling.

I’ll make this again (no doubt) for the next grilling season.

Shark Souvlaki

2 lbs. of shark steaks, trimmed, boned and cubed
4-6 wooden skewers, soaked in water (at least a hour)
Veggies for the souvlaki (I used red onions, red & green peppers)

Marinade
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp. grated ginger
1/4 tsp. ground pepper

1. Mix all of the marinade ingredients into a large zip-lock bag. Add your shark meat cubes, seal and place in the fridge for at least an hour.
2. When you’re ready to grill, take the shark out to resume room temperature. Cut up your veggies for skewering. Insert onion, red then green pepper then shark. Repeat until your veggies and shark meat have all been skewrered
3. Your BBQ/gas grill should be pre-heated to a medium-high heat. Shark is a lean fish and high heat will dry it out (treat them like chicken or pork). Grill for about 2-3 minutes per side (all four sides).