Wow, where have I been?! I can't believe I've been such a slacker the past couple of months. But I'm back from vacation, holidays, and morning sickness (mostly) so to make up for my MIA status, here are THREE recipes I picked up on my trip. I fell in love with gyros in Greece so I had to find a recipe that could duplicate that experience. These come pretty close. The sauce is the only thing that can be made in under 20 minutes but trust me, the time it takes to put this meal together is worth it!
Tzatziki sauce
This is literally the icing on the cake of a gyro. Slather this on a fresh pita, add gyro meat, diced cucumber, diced tomato, lettuce, kalamata olives, and feta cheese. HEAVENLY! This also makes a great dip for vegetables or pita chips.
Ingredients:
1 lb Greek yoghurt
1 cucumber
4 garlic cloves
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1-2 sprigs fresh dill
1/2 -1 Tbsp olive oil
Directions:
Mince (use the garlic press) the garlic and mix it with the salt and vinegar. Peel the cucumber and grate it. Place it in a piece of cheese cloth or just a clean kitchen towel and squeeze it until all the water is removed. Mix the yoghurt and the cucumber and then add the garlic/salt/vinegar mixture. Chop the dill and add. Mix well, add oil to desired consistency. Can be served immediately but is better when it is allowed to sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors combine. The garlic flavor gets more pronounced the second day.
Number Of Servings:a lot
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Gyro Meat
This is really just a very flavorful meat loaf, but it uses spices I never would have thought of. I substituted pork and turkey for the lamb and beef and it still tasted very much like what I had in Greece.
Ingredients:
* 1/2 onion, cut into chunks
* 1 pound ground lamb
* 1 pound ground beef
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
* 1 teaspoon ground dried rosemary
* 1 teaspoon ground dried thyme
* 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
1. Chop the onion. Scoop the onions onto the center of a towel, gather up the ends of the towel, and squeeze out the liquid from the onions. Place the onions into a mixing bowl along with the meat. Season with the garlic, oregano, cumin, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and salt. Mix well with your hands until well combined. Cover, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Place the meat mixture into the food processor, and pulse for about a minute until finely chopped and the mixture feels tacky. Pack the meat mixture into a 7x4 inch loaf pan, making sure there are no air pockets. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the loaf pan on the towel, inside the roasting pan, and place into the preheated oven. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
4. Bake until the gyro meat is no longer pink in the center, and the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) on a meat thermometer, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Pour off any accumulated fat, and allow to cool slightly before slicing thinly and serving.
Note: This took about 1.5 hours to cook in CO.
Number Of Servings:8
Pitas
This pita would also be good with falafel (my next adventure). They are awesome cut up and served with hummus dip!
Ingredients:
Pita Bread
3 cups flour (1 cup wheat, 2 cups white is recommended)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water
Knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. Place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.
Punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. Spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.
Spray a light mist of water onto your baking surface and close the oven for 30 seconds.
Place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. Experiment with the time a bit. In CO, I think it would be better to let them go for 4-5 minutes, but at sea level, the 3 minutes might be enough.
Number Of Servings: Makes 8 pitas
