One of my favourite meat dishes is Kontosouvli.…chunks of marinated pork slow-roasted on the spit. Many grill houses in Greece offer it, it can be found offered at “panagyria” or feast day celebrations around the country.

Many Greeks will make this on their home rotisseries as part of their Easter offerings (or other celebration) or part of a summer BBQ party.

Not everyone lives in Greece, not everyone has a rotisserie but most have an oven and with this recipe (and your oven), you can enjoy Kontosouvli at home.

The home version involves using parchment paper and foil to wrap the meat before going in the oven. Once in the oven, the meat cooks with help from the moisture of the meat and onions in the mix. The meat is unwrapped toward the end to get a nice roasted brown flavour.

The cut of pork I use is Butt, it’s the part of the pig from the shoulder/neck area. It has a decent amount of fat, which is needed for a successful end result with juicy, succulent roast pork.

Kontosouvli in Parchment

(serves 4-6)

1 boneless pork butt (shoulder) 6lbs, cut into chunks

1 medium onion, passed through a box grater

2-3 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. of sweet paprika

2 tsp. dried Greek oregano

2 tsp. ground pepper

3 tsp. of sea salt

extra-sea salt for final seasoning

Lemon

dried Greek oregano

pre-heated 375F oven

1. In a large bowl, add your grated onion, garlic, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper and stir to mix. Now your pork butt into large chucks, about the size of your palm and place in the marinade and toss until well-coated.
2. Wrap the pork chunks with parchment paper then aluminum foil, either in portions or one large packet.
3. Place in a roasting pan and into your preheated oven. Roast for 2 1/2 hours. Open a packet, the meat should be fork-tender. If not, re-wrap and roast another 15-20 minutes.
4. Turn heat up to 500F. Unwrap the meat, drain off the juices into a bowl and place back in the oven uncovered, turning every15 minutes until brown on all sides.
5. Serve squeeze lemon juice, sprinkle of sea salt and dried Greek oregano, Serve with roast potatoes or fries.

Options: Instead of grated onion, you can roast with pieces of onion, red and green peppers in the packets.