Gyro Meat and Tzatziki Sauce

Gyro sandwiches are one of my favorites and no one in our town makes them.  Today on Facebook an article popped up with a recipe to make your own gyro meat as well as the Tzatziki sauce to dress the sandwich.

Most traditional gyro sandwich meat includes ground lamb, which you're not going to find in rural Oklahoma.  The recipe said you could use any combination of beef, poultry, and pork so I ground up some pork loin chops and mixed it with 80/20 ground beef.  I used the more fatty ground beef to add flavor.

To press the meat after baking, I used a skillet filled with unopened cans  of vegetables.

The Tzatziki sauce recipe needs to be tweaked a little.  I used plain yogurt rather than Greek since I had it on hand, and dried dill since fresh wasn't available.  English cucumbers don't have the same flavor as a regular salad cucumber.  In my opinion, use a regular one!

GYRO SANDWICH MEAT

1 lb. ground beef—I used 80/20

1 lb. ground pork

1 small red onion, finely diced

6 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 tsp. ground marjoram—I used dried

2 tsp. dried rosemary

2 tsp. dried oregano—I used ground

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

Put onion and garlic into food processor and process until a fine mince.

Using a stand mixer, combine the meat, onion, garlic and spices.  Mix until meat gets a paste like consistency. Press meat into a greased loaf pan.

Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 1 hour or until internal temperature reaches 175-180°

Remove from pan to drain off grease.  Wrap in foil and place a weight on top to compress the meat.  Let stand at least 30 minutes.

TZATZIKI SAUCE

½ English cucumber, finely diced

16 oz. Greek yogurt

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

1/3 c. fresh dill

1 ½ tsp. lemon juice

Salt and pepper

Squeeze excess moisture out of cucumber.  Combine with other ingredients and chill at least one hour.

Homemade Cauliflower Fried Rice

I've made this using Green Giant riced cauliflower when I'm in a hurry.  Today I had a huge head of cauliflower that I needed to use so I riced the cauliflower myself.  It's much less expensive if you have time and a food chopper to just make it yourself.

You can beat and egg and stir it in once the vegetables are almost done,  Adding minced ginger is good too.

Cauliflower Fried Rice

Cauliflower

I carrot, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

½ medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Frozen peas

Canned chicken breast, drained, reserve liquid

Sesame oil

Soy sauce

I egg, beaten (optional)

minced ginger (optional)

Separate cauliflower into florets and process in food

chopper until desired consistency. I used about 3 cups.

Heat oil in medium skillet.

Add carrot, celery, onion, frozen peas and garlic.

Stir fry until almost tender.

Add processed cauliflower, mix well.

Stir in liquid reserved from chicken.

Add soy sauce to taste.

Cook, stirring until vegetables are tender.

You can also beat an egg and add to mixture along with some

minced ginger root.