Weekly Cooking Report May 9: Grilled Chicken Souvlaki with Green Peppers and Onion

 It's still the start of grilling season my friends, so fire that sucker up. 

This week comes from Cooks Illustrated again, so no easy website to link you to, but this one is hardly complicated enough to warrant the longer description. 

Shopping trip: for the skewers (and you'll need 4 skewers if you don't have them; yes I only used 3. Shut up and listen.)
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 green bell pepper, quartered, stemmed, seeded, each quarter cut into 4 chunks
1 small red onion, ends trimmed, peeled, halved lengthwise, each half cut into 4 chunks

for the marinade: 
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest plus 1/4 cup juice (2 lemons)
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon dried oregano

for the recommended Tzatziki Sauce
1 bottle of premade Tzatsiki sauce. Don't kill yourself here. 

Also pick up some pita bread. The CI recipe has a whole thing about fancy ways to grill the bread in aluminum foil, but it's not necessary. (The bread isn't even really necessary if you want to serve over rice; just don't forget to the cook the rice! Or... COUSCOUS, the lazy person's rice!)

OK, get a quart of cold water, dissolve 2 tablespoons of salt in it and chuck the chicken in. Cover it and set it in the fridge to brine for 30 minutes. While that's happening take all the marinade ingredients and mix them together; once that's done set 1/4 cup aside in a bowl for serving. 

Once the 30 minute brine is done. dry the chicken with paper towels and toss it into the marinade. Take a skewer and thread 1/4 of the pepper onto it, concave side up. Then thread on 1/4 of the chicken, and then 1/4 of the onions, concave side down. You can see how it looks in the picture. Repeat till you have all 4 skewers ready 

Heat and clean the grill per manufacturer instructions. Once it's hot lay the skewers on it and cook, turning every 4 minutes or so until all sides are cooked. Tae one skewer off the flame and test with a probe thermometer for 160F. If it's not quite there, keep them on another few minutes, rotating every minute or so for even cooking. You should be good at 20 minutes max. 

Use a fork to push the contents of the skewers into the bowl with the set aside marinade, cover with foil and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve with the pita and Tzatsiki for a grateful family!