Last Thursday was Tsiknopempti in Greece (and anywhere in the world where Greeks celebrated the most popular meat-grilling day of Greek Carnival). I had three options: stay home and simply make a meat dish using my oven’s broiler or a grill pan. Option 2 was to head down to Toronto’s Greektown (the Danforth) and be served an array of grilled meats…pay as you play!
The third option was to simply grill my own meats. With Canada’s February weather being usually cold, this option was decided upon at the last possible moment, pending the weather forecast. The high last Thursday was 3Celcius and for February in Canada, that qualifies as grilling weather!
I recently found some boneless lamb shoulder and froze it for just such an occasion – making lamb souvlaki. Lam shoulder is very flavourful, has some fat content and but it’s not the most tender of cuts. A marinade would be needed. This marinade borrows elements from my fabulous pork souvlaki and some elements from my summer favourite, grilled lamb chops.
Lamb shoulder is neither pork butt (cut used for souvlaki) or tender lamb chops. Thus, the marinade is a little different. This marinade contains grated onion (the juices soften meat very well), garlic, olive oil, some mustard, fresh thyme, sweet paprika, black pepper, lemon zest and juice, parsley and fresh thyme. I add just a teaspoon of salt to flavour the meat without drawing too much moisture during the marinating time.
Another aspect to make this Tsiknopempti offering a little special was to offer three different dipping sauces for the lamb souvlaki: Tzatziki with mint (instead of dill), a garlic-roasted pepper sauce and a roasted lemon and garlic sauce. The Tzatziki recipe is already on my site – just substitute the dill with fresh mint. The roasted red pepper sauce contains a roasted red pepper, 1/2 a head of roasted garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and some fresh thyme.
The roasted lemon sauce is a kind of eggless Aioli. In Michael Psilakis’s cookbook “How to Roast a Lamb“, he includes a roasted lemon sauce which he uses often in his dishes. Much like roasting garlic, I wrap halfed lemons in foil and slow roast them in the oven. A concentrated, sweeter lemon pops out of the oven. The aroma and flavour of these roasted lemons are reminiscent of preserved lemons. I don’t go though enough preserved lemon to justify buying jar but slow-roasting lemons works fine by me.
You have many options here: stick with this lamb souvlaki marinade and you’ll be rewarded with a juicy, flavourful grilled meat dish. As always, tailor the flavours to the seasons and to what’s available. Fresh oregano in the summer could take place of the thyme, rosemary loves lamb too!
When the souvlaki have been grilled, all they need is some a good squeeze of lemon juice, a topping of dried Greek oregano and a new favourite ingredient of mine, “afrina”, a Greek fleur de sel.
Lamb Souvlaki
(serves 4-6)
Approx. 1kg. (2.2lbs) cubed lamb meat ( I use boneless shoulder)
1/3 olive oil + enough vegetable oil to make a 1/2 cup total (vegetable oil to prevent olive oil from solidifying in fridge)
1 medium onion, passed through your box grater
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 heaping tsp. of sweet paprika
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp. ground pepper
1 tsp. sea salt
2 Tbsp. of fresh parsley
Garnishes
Fresh lemon juice
dried Greek oregano
Greek “afrina” (fleur de sel) 
- If you have a boneless piece of lamb shoulder, rinse the meat and pat-dry. cut up into cubes and set aside. In a large bowl, add all of your marinade ingredients and whisk to amalgamate. Have a quick taste and adjust flavours to your liking. Add your pieces of lamb into the bowl and and toss until the meat is coated well with the marinade. Cover with cling wrap and place in your fridge for up to one day. If using wooden skewers for your souvlaki, place in a container with water to soak overnight.In a shallow glass baking dish, add all the marinade ingredients (olive oil, garlic, mustard, parsley, thyme, lemon juice and black pepper) and stir to blend. Pour off and reserve about 1/3 of the marinade (for finishing the lamb). Add the lamb chops and ensure all of the meat is coated with the marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for 2 – 4 hours.
- The next day, return your lamb back to room temperature and skewer the cubes of lamb. Before grilling, pre-heat your gas or charcoal grill to a medium-high heat. Ensure your grill surface is clean by brushing it and wipe it with vegetable oil. Season your lamb chops with salt and pepper.
- Grill your lamb souvlaki for 4-5 minutes a side.
- Squeeze some lemon juice over the chops, sprinkle some fleur de sel (afrini)Â and finish with some dried Greek oregano.
- Serve with homemade pita bread, a rice pilaf and a Papaioannou Nemea Aghiorightiko red.
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© 2007-2010 Peter Minakis
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29 Responses
This looks soooo good, love Greek food, I really want to go there NOW!!
*drool* It’s bad enough that I’m a fiend for souvlaki… but those dipping sauces look fabulous. All three of them!
I’m drooling! That’s something I adore!
Cheers,
Rosa
I love grilling outside in the middle of winter. Our grill sits on a covered porch, so even when it’s snowing, we can grill. And it might be my imagination, but I honestly think that the food tastes better when I’ve stood out in the cold to grill it!
Looks totally delish! I could eat that right now (6.50am) it looks so good.
Ps: I want that dip dish – I love it!
Yummy! I had souvlaki when I went to Greece, i loved it… Greek food rocks and ur photos are mouth-watering :)
Slow roasting lemon for the sauce is so clever! This looks amazing. But is that snow on the patio around your barbecue?!
This is a yummy Greek Food blog, certainly inspiring, and iv enjoyed my visit! Costa
Can you adopt me? I want to eat that terrific food you make every day.
I love the slow roasting lemon method Peter. I think everday is a great barbecuing day in Canada!!!!!
While I love your pork souvlaki, I think that the lamb has to be my favorite. To me, lamb just says “Greek”. Those three sauces just take it to another level! And, I think I’ll be using mint in my tzatziki from now on.
This really makes me wish our grill wasn’t buried under a couple feet of snow! I’m also now craving your pork souvlaki, one of my favorite things
I have lamb defrosting. I was trying to think of something to do with it. Who cares if there is a foot and a half of snow on the deck. i have a shovel.
I’m leaning towards making this for my Sunday dinner. It looks amazing and it’s making me hungry.
Lamb is the reason why I will never be a vegetarian. I like that mint substitution in the tzatziki too. Congrats on that 3 degree C high for BBQ-ing!
“Be still my beating heart”….Just beautiful Peter! Perfectly executed flavours and adaptions based on your season. Glad to see you fired up the bbq at 3 deg C!! The roasted lemon sauce looks amazing!
paprika, mustard, oregano, lemon, your special fleur de sel. i can just imagine how succulent and flavorful that baby sheep must be–three cheers for seasoned meat on a stick!
I like the ‘foodie’ approach of serving the lamb (my favorite souvlaki) with 3 dipping sauces. Of course, one has to eat and drink 3x as much. What a chore! :)
I have to say, lamb is one of my favorite meats. This souvlaki seems very approachable, and a simpler way to cook lamb. I also love the sauces that you paired wtih it. I have never slow roasted lemons, but I am instantly in love with the idea of it. I have a feeling souvlaki will be my new football watching food next year (yes, i’m planning ahead!) :)
You got a great char on that lamb! I really like the sound of the roasted lemons!
Love those sauces – especially the red pepper. I could eat a few skewers of those right now!
Gosh Peter! Such great meat and the option of 3 sauces! I’m in meat heaven. Thanks for that great tip about the onion juice and what it does to the meat.
Hi Peter! Τόσες μÎÏες Îψαχνα να δω πώς σχολιάζουμε εδώ και δεν το Îβλεπα! Μάλλον τα καÏναβάλια φταίνει! Δε θα Îλεγα όχι σε Îνα σουβλάκι Ï„ÏŽÏα, παÏόλο που ελιναι νωÏίς το Ï€Ïωι, βουτηγμÎνο σε μία από τις φανταστικÎÏ‚ σαλτσοÏλες που βλÎπω! Και του χÏόνου!
Roasted lemon sauce sounds wonderful. Love your dip platter and the colors of the sauces.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
LL
Great BBQ dish. I love lamb in any form. Looks good what you have put on the grill.
Deeee-licious Peter!
Peter, another absolutely delicious recipe. I will be trying this as an appetizer prior to Greek Easter Dinner. Thank goodness, being Greek I know how to prepare this, because you in your recipe, talk about marinating the lamb cubes and also refer to marinating the “lamb chops”, seems like you have added 2 marinade recipes for lamb together?????? A bit confusing