oooh, gyros! can you post Nancy's recipe? I would love to try my hand at gyros. Thanks Sue

Here you go...

Gyro Meat
1 lb ground lamb
1 lb ground beef
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried ground marjoram
1/2 tsp dried ground rosemary
1/2 tsp black pepper
Combine everything and refrigerate for a couple of hours for flavors to blend.
Blend in a food processor ( in 2 batches if necessary) for about a minute. This will smooth out the meat and make it a finer grain, like commercial gyro meat.
Pack the meat firmly into a loaf pan. I use a meatloaf pan that has an insert, meat is packed into the insert and as it cooks, the fats collect in the pan underneath for disposal.
Bake at 325° for 45-60 minutes.
Nancy (wizardn)

Claire, I'm glad you liked it. Good idea on using the mini pita bread. I should make it soon again myself since there are good tomatoes and cukes right now.

Nancy

Ooooh copied and pasted! This sounds like a great snack food for Football Sunday Open House!

Thanks!

Alexa

Do you make your own Tzatziki to go with, or buy it? That sounds like a real winner! And it might just make me buy a food processor just to try it.

Thanks!

Duane

Nancy and all,
It may be difficult to find ground lamb in my area. Is it vitally necessary to the recipe or could I use another pound of ground beef? Is there anything that could substitute for the ground lamb? I love gyros!
Teresa

Here is the Tzaztiki recipe I use. It's good! It's from epicurious dot com. I haven't been there in awhile, looks like an entirely new site.. It was quicker for me to type out the recipe than to register again.

Tzatziki

2 C. plain yogurt

1 English hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, grated
1 tbsp coarse salt

½ cup sour cream
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 tbsp. minced fresh dill
1 garlic clove, minced
6 pita breads, cut horizontally in half, then cut into wedges
Olive oil

Line sieve with cheesecloth and place over medium bowl. Place yogurt into sieve. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to drain in refrig. overnight.

Mix cucumber and 1 tbsp. salt in a small bowl: cover & chill 3 hours.

Transfer drained yogurt to another bowl. Mix in sour cream, lemon juice, dill and garlic. Squeeze out as much excess liquid as possible from cucumber. Stir cucumber into yogurt. Season with pepper. Cover, chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead, keep refrigerated).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place pita wedges on baking sheets. Brush with olive oil. Bake until crisp, about 10 minutrs. Cool. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store pita airtight at room temperature). Serve with baked pita wedges.

Claire

Hi Claire, thanks for posting that! I appreciate it.

Teresa, I think you could use all ground beef, but the lamb is what really gives it that 'greek' taste, so you might be disappointed if you don't use the lamb IMO.

Duane

This is almost exactly the recipe I use, which is Alton Brown's, except that he uses all lamb. One trick he has is to place a foil-wrapped brick on top of the loaf as it cools. I think this helps compact it a bit as well as push out extra fat. Once it's cool it's pretty solid, so you can shave of thin slices that stay in tact. I've never done it without this step, so I can't say if it makes a huge difference.

Teresa - Look for stew meat or boneless shoulder steaks. (These are the cuts that AB recommended.) Cut them up and throw in the FP.

I bet an electric knife would come in handy here (can you tell I'm trying to justify the purchase)