Gyros

Back in the kitchen again Saturday. :) I do love this.

Since moving here, we haven't really found a good Greek place where we can get gyros to go, and sit outside enjoying someone else's meal prep. So I got it in my head that I ought to be able to make my own!

A month or so ago, after scouring my usual internet sources to see what was called for, I got a pound of ground lamb and a pound of ground pork and parked it in the freezer for when I would have time to do this.

I'm a bit ahead on my reading and got my first paper for TS503 done in good order, so... I had time! And got to use the food processor again to mix the meat and spices into a paste for baking in a loaf pan. Fun!

Interesting thing about this recipe; it calls for you to use a foil-wrapped brick to set on top of the finished loaf when done and still hot, to press the meat so that it will slice easily for the gyros instead of crumble. Weird, but.. it works!

Plus, it was fun to use some different spices besides basil and oregano. This time rosemary and marjoram (plus the usual onion, garlic, salt, pepper, etc.) which smelled wonderful, and tasted very authentic. Almost as good as Golden Gyros at 72nd & Lincoln in West Allis. :) Except without the frozen custard after.

The tzatziki sauce also turned out great! Plain yogurt, a little olive oil and red wine vinegar, some garlic, crushed mint leaves, and a cucumber. Easy, too. Except if I had been thinking, I would have done the fine chopping of the cucumber for the sauce in the food processor *before* I went and used it for the meat mixture. :( So I had to fine chop by hand. What a putzy job. I'll know better next time.

But I do absolutely love the little peeler gadget thingie I have. It fits over one finger and you just sort of run your palm over the vegetable in question, and.. zip! Done. Plus, it feels like you're being more friendly to the vegetable.

Instead of hacking away, attacking it with a peeler, you just stroke it gently and repeatedly with your hand, and it happily sheds its exterior for you. :) Aww. Seems more.. congenial and cooperative. Harmonious. Mutually fulfilling, even. Symbiosis with a cucumber.

So, yum! Another well-turned out dish, and a keeper of a recipe. Opaaa!

But now.. what to do with all this leftover mint? Hmmm... supercook.com to the rescue. Oooh, now *that* one sounds good..