GREEK LAMB SOUVLA MARINADE

Honouring: Ari Aristidou

“This recipe was given to us by my Father-In-Law Ari Aristidou. He is the king of the Souvla and is always in charge of the BBQ at family events. He also donates a lot of his time volunteering at Church fundraisers and you will see him out the back cooking meat for Paniyiri.

The secret behind a good Souvla is to have good quality meat and to baste it as often as you can with this marinade.”

Sia

Whilst this recipe is for Lamb Souvla, you can also use the same marinade for chicken and/or pork.

It is highly recommended that you use a good quality, preferably grass fed meat when you cook a souvla. The taste is so much better when you buy a good quality meat.

INGREDIENTS

• 325g or 2 large onions, brown or white, chopped in half
• 180g olive oil
• 95g freshly squeezed lemon juice from about 2 large lemons
• 30g salt
• 5g or 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 15g or 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 8kg of meat preferably lamb shoulder however chicken or pork can also be used

STEPS

1. Add onion (325g) to the bowl and chop for 3 seconds/speed 7. Scrape down the sides and also the lid.
2. Weigh all other ingredients into the bowl: olive oil (180g), lemon juice (95g), salt (15g), pepper (5g), oregano (15g) and blend for 20 seconds/speed 5.
3. Scrape down sides and blend again for 20 seconds/speed 5.
4. Ensure it has formed a thick smooth paste otherwise blend again.
5. Pour the paste into a container and use a pastry brush to marinate the meat while it cooks slowly on the souvla. Continue to brush the meat with the paste every 5-10 minutes. Or pour half of the paste over some meat and marinate it overnight in the fridge. Cook the meat on the barbecue and use the remaining marinade to paste the meat whilst cooking.

NOTES

• To create a thicker paste, add more onion and use less oil.
• This marinade can be frozen for use at a later date.
• The meat needs to be pasted at least every 5-10 minutes while it cooks on a souvla. Paste the meat more often for extra boost of flavour. If the meat starts to look dry while cooking, then paste the meat again.
• We get our meat direct from Mark and Sue, the farmers from Maleny Black Angus Beef. They sell lamb shoulder for souvla as well as chicken, pork and beef. Mark & Sue have kindly offered all of our readers a $25 voucher to use on first orders.
  CLICK HERE TO CLAIM A $25 MEAT VOUCHER TO USE ON YOUR FIRST ORDER
• If you would like to learn more about buying meat direct from the farmer please check out our recent blog post: How To Buy A Whole Cow For Meat – Brisbane Home Delivery