Gyro Sandwiches
The gyro, pronouned "YEE-ro", is a much-beloved Greek sandwich, traditionally made with layers of pressed and seasoned meat, cooked on a vertical skewer that can hold upwards to 100 pounds of meat at a time. Once the meat is ready slices of it are slivered off to order and covered with creamy, tangy tzatziki sauce. This recipe gives you the flavor of a gyro, without the extravagance of the large rotisserie skewer.
We cooked the meat in a bain-marie, or a steam bath, to make sure it cooks thoroughly but stays juicy and tender. Don't skip the final step of pressing your meat with a brick, either. That will allow the meat to set into an easily slice-able loaf.
Serve on toasted pita bread, topped with feta cheese, chopped tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. Don't forget the tzatziki! And have extra napkins handy.
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 1 pound ground lamb
- 2 Tablespoons Gyro Seasoning
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 Pitas
- Red onion, tomatoes, crumbled feta
- one batch Tzatziki Sauce
- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Mince the onion in a food processor. Place onion in a kitchen towel and squeeze as much of the juice out as possible. Place back into food processor.
- Add the lamb and Gyro Seasoning to the food processor. Process until you have a paste. Add the ground beef to the mixture and process until well incorporated into the paste.
- Place the meat mixture into an ungreased loaf pan, and press into the pan so there is no air. Place that pan into another, larger pan with high sides, (like a glass cake pan), and fill with water halfway up the loaf pan.
- Bake in oven at 325°F for 60-75 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Remove from oven and drain fat. Take a brick wrapped in aluminum foil and place on top of meat for 20 minutes.
- Toast pita bread.
- Slice thinly and serve on pita bread with red onion, tomatoes, crumbled feta, and Tzatziki sauce.
