Day 205.
A hundred million years ago, my very first job was working at the Zoo, in the education department. I loved that job---I loved the people, the work, the animals, speaking to the public, and the food.
I really loved the food.
I think I spent pretty much every dollar I made going to the different hole-in-the-wall restaurants ordering food I had never before heard of that were within walking distance. Directly across the street was a Gyro stand. A bunch of us would run across the street and order gyros (in our uniforms; boy I hope we washed our hands first) and stand in an insane line to order and then eat our gyros while we walked back to work.
I know we pronounced them wrong when we went to order. Nobody cared. That was nice.
We had these last night for Adam's birthday; he turned 24. again.
I followed the fantastic recipe online by Sarah Christine Bolton, the Savvy Slow Cooker of CDKitchen. Sarah knows her stuff---I recommend spending some time checking out her recipes.
The Ingredients.
For the gyro meat:
--1/2 pound ground lamb
--1/2 pound ground turkey
--2 t oregano
--1 t paprika
--1/2 chopped onion
--3 cloves minced garlic
--juice from 1 lemon
For the Tzatziki sauce (optional, but not really):
--1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
--1 cup plain non fat yogurt
--1 T olive oil
--3 cloves minced garlic
--2 T chopped fresh mint
--juice from 1 lemon
Extra stuff (optional. for reals.):
--pita bread (but we used corn tortillas)
--lettuce
--tomatoes
--feta cheese
--olives
The Directions.
Don't freak out about the number of ingredients. This comes together very quickly. I promise. Chop up the onion, and 3 cloves of garlic, and put them in the bottom of your crockpot. In a small mixing bowl, combine the two kinds of ground meat with the paprika and oregano. If your spices don't have a fresh smell anymore, or if you think they may have been purchased in the 90s, consider buying fresh bottles for this dish.
Make a little meatloaf with your hands. Put the meatloaf log on top of the chopped onion and garlic in your crockpot. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the top of the meat.Cover and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours, or on HIGH for about 2.
I, um, forgot to plug in the crockpot until 2pm yesterday and cooked this on high for exactly 2 hours.
It worked!
While you are waiting for the meat to cook, make up a batch of the yummy Tzatziki sauce and put it in the fridge.
You will know when the meat is done, because it will not be raw when you cut into it. This is all so very technical, you know.
Carefully! remove the meat from the crockpot and slice it thinly on a cutting board.
Serve it with pitas (or corn or brown rice tortillas) with the Tzatziki sauce and whatever desired fixings you have chosen.
The Verdict.
I loved making these! I hadn't used garlic and onion just as a flavor infuser before, and was really excited to learn a new trick. This is not greasy, and the flavor was good. It was not the same as how I remember the gyros from across the street at the Zoo, but close enough that I would definitely make them again. I remember a lot more grease, and a lot more salt. and since I'm not sixteen anymore, I'm no longer interested in that, anyhow.
Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your Slow Cooking Savvies.
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