Monday's Greek Recipe - Kokoretsi

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INGREDIENTS

 

• Guts of lamb. You might need guts from more than one lamb. Ask for 2 hearts, 2 spleen, liver and 1 lungs, 2 testicles
• Bowels (intestines) of lamb. At least 4 are required for a medium size kokoretsi
• oregano
• Salt
• Pepper
• Some olive oil

METHOD

Wash the guts very thoroughly and cut them in small pieces. Be careful not to cut them in too small pieces because you will no be able to skewer them. Wash the bowels very carefully and try to clean them from inside. Leave them in a washbowl and keep the ends of each bowel in one side in order to be able to seperate them. Prepare the souvla (iron stick). Start skewering the guts in the iron stick until all are passed to the iron stick. Pin one end of the first bowel in the one side of the souvla and wind the intestine around the skewer. If the bowel reaches its end tie it with the end of the next bowel and continue to wind until all bowels are wrapped and no guts are visible (you should only see the bowels along the souvla). Season with salt, pepper and oregano. Prepare the fire and roast on all sides until guts are brown and crispy. Check that "kokoretsi" is ready and remove from fire. Cut the kokoretsi in cylinders of 5 cm wide in order to remove it from the souvla in pieces. Put in platter, oil the kokoretsi pieces, season with extra salt, pepper and oregano and serve.

via www.greek-recipe.com

Kokoretsi is a meal that is traditionally made and served at Easter, along with Lamb on the Spit. It is made from the internal organs of the lamb, arranged on a skewer and cooked over the hot coals along with the lamb on Easter Sunday. It can be found at other times of the year in some tavernas. The purpose of this meal was to make use of the organs of the lamb, that was gutted and cleaned ready for the spit, and not to waste any parts of the animal. Kokoretsi is traditionally served as a starter.

Comments

[Constantinos T]

A favourite Easter lunch starter - the king of Greek meze if you ask me!

[Christina]

For me, Easter without kokoretsi is like Christmas without melomakarona. I really can't resist that delicious smell as it's cooking on the spit.

[Sophia]

It's been a few Easters now that I have learned to prepare kokoretsi myself instead of ordering it at the butcher's. The most important part of the preparation is a thorough washing of the intestines. I wash them inside out under running water 15-20 times. Apart from the intestines, I only use the liver - not the heart, spleen, lungs or testicles - and that's just as delicious, I think.

[Jim]

Hmmmm.....not sure I could eat this! :-)

[Lakis Ioannou]

I can't wait for Easter Sunday to get my kokoretsi ready for the spit!! I serve it with lots of oregano and fresh lemon juice while still hot. The testicles are the best part! (also called ameletita)

[Karolina]

The most difficult part of the process is to wash the bowels of the lamb. Here's how we do it in Thrace: The bowels should be washed thoroughly inside out. They are then washed and put in a bowl of water with either vinegar or lemon juice, they are washed again and turned around and washed for a second time. We also wash the spleen, heart, testicles and lungs in vinegar or lemon juice. A Thracian tip: the coal must be very hot and some salt should be added while cooking as this makes the meat more juicy and tender. Kalo Pasxa!!!

[Lisa A]

I know kokoretsi because I spent one Greek easter in Corfu and we had that on easter day. Is really delicious!!!

[Jean-Paul Bouvier]

J'adore ça!!!

[Anastasia]

For us Greeks, it's the best Easter meze!
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