#268 A Taste of Greece with Gyro and Tzatziki

A traditional Greek gyro is normally made with at least 50% ground lamb and beef but this one has half ground pork sausage and beef. Other common ingredients in Greek cooking are marjoram, garlic, rosemary and thyme and slow roasted over a pit the meat is roasted full of flavor and succulent to be eaten with Tzatziki sauce drizzled all over the pita. However, I baked the meat mixture after marinating overnight and then broiled the tops until it browned since I did not have a roaster or pit.

Ingredients for Gyro meat:
Ground Beef - 1 1/2 lbs
Ground Pork sausage-1 1/2 lbs
Grated carrots-2
Onions chopped fine- 1/2
lime juice- 1/2
Mint leaves chopped fine- 1 cup
Dried mixture of oregano, rosemary, marjoram and thyme-  2 Tablespoons
Cumin powder- 1 teaspoon
Garlic Paste- 2 large Tablespoons

Tzatziki sauce:
Cucumber grated- 1
Greek yogurt-1/2 cup
garlic cloves crushed and ground- 3
Lemon juice-2 teaspoons
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients together and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Other Ingredients to assemble the gyro:
Pita bread/ Naan bread
Slices of Cucumber, Tomato, Lettuce



Directions:
1. To make the Gyro meat, usually lamb meat is used but since I was not able to find good ground lamb I've used Sausage as a substitute as it is my family favorite.
2. Mix the meats together and add the rest of the ingredients together. Pack gently into a meatloaf pan. Cover with saran wrap.
3. keep in the refrigerator overnight or until ready to roast in the oven.
4. Heat oven to 375 degrees to roast meat. Roast  the meatloaf covered for 30 minutes.
5. Cover with Aluminum foil. remove foil after the first 30 minutes and roast for another 40 minutes
or just until the meat is no longer pink.
6. Remove from oven and turn over onto a glass pan.
7. Slice as thin as possible the meat so that it resembles gyro meat.
8. Roast the sliced top of the loaf again in the oven and repeat slicing until all the meat is roasted, brown and sliced.(I had to repeatedly roast the top of the loaf in the oven since I do not own a rotating chicken roaster, But, if you are the proud owner of one, it will definitely save you a lot of time if you place the meat around the metal rod and roast evenly.)
8. Warm a pita bread lightly and make a pocket. Add lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes as desired.
9. Now add 5-6 slices meat into the pocket and serve drizzled with Sauce.