Greek Al Fresco Lunch

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What kind of food blogger would I be if I threw a lunch for our families that was easy and delicious, took 20 minutes to cook, looked gorgeous all spread out, went great with white wine, and I didn’t share it with you?

Seriously, I posted before (complete with horrible photos that did not weather the transition to the upgrade of this website well) about how much we love Pork Souvlaki. We call them Greek Tacos because they are a similar concept and level of ease as the South American variety. But the flavors are my favorite!

So when my oldest son RJ made his First Communion a few weeks ago, and all of our families were coming over to celebrate afterwards, I decided to do a greek spread with the souvlaki since it can feed a crowd and it is so quick to make. And it just can’t get any easier then opening packages of hummus and tabouleh and putting lemony tangy pork in a pita with some feta and tzatziki sauce.

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I should throw in that I have had a steep learning curve trying to throw food parties with small children.

If you have never tried to do it, imagine trying to be a line order cook at a restaurant in the dinner hour and a preschool teacher at the same time. 

If that sounds hard, it is.

It has to be simple. But the food lover in me really wants it to be good too. And pretty. Can we get pretty too or is that too greedy?

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Not with this spread.

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IMG_0101^^I am obsessed with aged goat cheese right now.  Learn more about them here.

I cubed and marinated the pork the night before. The morning of, I made the orzo pasta salad while the meat cooked, which took 20 minutes. You can do the pasta salad the day before too though, obv.

Then add these sides:

Pita Bread

Olives

Tabouleh

Hummas

Feta

Tzatziki Sauce (yougurt with dill and cucumbers). For Ina Garten’s recipe for this click here

Cucumbers, Tomatos, Mint, Mixed Greens

My husband likes to use romaine lettuce instead of a pita for a low carb version. 

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After the ceremony we were starving but it really only took me a few minutes to set everything out while the kids played in the back yard.

 I used white kitchen towels from Target as napkins and I loved them – I can totally picture them with cute ribbons and napkin rings in the future, but since this was entertaining with kids, setting them in a bucket is a victory.IMG_0105

Our whole family had such a special day together and we were so happy for RJ! We had lots of full bellies and full hearts.

And to my amazing Greek friends, I know you can cook Greek food about a THOUSAND times better then this, but let the people with small kids eat your yummy flavors via store bought sides.

And, of course, let them eat cake.

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Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

 

Pork Souvlaki (printer version for Pork Souvlaki and Orzo Salad here):

If you can find Basile’s Pork Souvlaki seasoning mix, making pork souvlaki is as easy as marinating 2 lbs. of pork tenderloin with:

4 T. of Souvlaki seasoning
juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup of olive oil

If you can’t find it, follow this recipe I got from allrecipes.com:

  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 4 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes

Marinate for 2-3 hours, then cook the meat on the stovetop:

 

Orzo Salad with Feta: another summertime backyard favorite, travels well.

  • 1 lb package of orzo, cooked and drained according to package
  • 8 oz. of feta, crumbled
  • 1 package of cherry tomatoes
  • 1 jar of drained, pitted kalamata olives
  • 1 cucumber, sliced and quartered
  • 1 bunch green onions, sliced
  • 1 bottle light Greek or Italian dressing
  • 2 T mint, chopped (Optional)

Toss all ingredients together and serve hot, room temperature or cold. Enjoy!