6.20.2013

Greek Gyro Meatballs with Tzatziki Sauce

I'll be honest, I don't think I've ever had an authentic Greek Gyro sandwich.  As a matter of fact, I can't even recall one time in my life that I have ever had lamb.  Sheltered, I know!

In order to break out of my sheltered little cocoon, I set out to widen my palette and cook something that my taste buds hadn't experienced before!  I decided upon Gyro meatballs.  I'm sure I could have made something a little more authentic however, a pita doesn't really mesh well with a gluten free lifestyle. . .so, meatballs it was!

My first step was to pick up some ground lamb.  Well. . .my local go to grocery store only carried lamb chops and I didn't feel like, nor did I have time to scour the city for ground lamb, so I wound up with ground sirloin.  First step fail!

Before I discourage you from making these delicious morsels, let me give you the recipe and you can decide for yourself what meat you would like to use!

Gyro Meatballs
Adapted from here.

Meatball Ingredients:

2lbs of ground meat.  I used ground sirloin but I'm betting that lamb would be delicious!

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons rosemary (I used fresh)

2 teaspoons oregano (I used fresh)

2 tablespoons minced garlic or 2 minced garlic cloves

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

Generous cranks of fresh ground pepper

1/4 red onion (chopped or minced) depending on your preference

Several large leaves of living lettuce


Tzatziki Sauce (Recipe from here) Ingredients:

6 ounces plain (nonfat) Greek yogurt

1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (I used balsamic vinegar because I was out of red wine vinegar)

1 teaspoon chopped dill or dill weed

Salt and pepper

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, combine the meat, lemon juice, rosemary, oregano, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and red onion.

I like to use a wooden spoon to really combine my ingredients but feel free to stick your hands in are really get to mixing if you prefer! I get grossed out by raw meet.  This is something really weird. . .I know.  I use a spoon!  The end!

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

I let my mixture sit for a bit while I made my tzatziki sauce so the flavors could really meld together!

Form your meet into balls.  I made mine rather large so I got about 18 meatballs out of the batch.

Place your meatballs on a broiler pan.  You could use a cookie sheet with a lip, but I like to use a broiler pan so the grease can drop through to the bottom. 

Bake your meatballs for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the size.  Make sure you check the center of one to make sure its done to your likeness.  I usually like my meatballs to be medium well. . .still juicy but, for the most part, brown all the way through!

*I think that grilling these would be delicious, however we currently only have a charcoal grill and I have NO IDEA how to light the darn thing and Chuck was still at work!

While your meatballs are baking (or grilling), mix all the ingredients together in a bowl for your tzatziki sauce.  Stick your sauce in the fridge while you wait for your balls to be done!



Once your meatballs are done, plate it up by placing one or two large leaves of living lettuce on your plate, topped with a couple spoon fulls of tzatziki sauce, followed by 2 or 3 meatballs!

I served our meatballs with mashed rose potatoes, roasted broccoliflower and steamed broccoli.

I must warn you that the tzatziki sauce is delicious and you will want to eat it on everything!  Good thing it's not fat and calorie laden!  You're welcome!

Enjoy!

1 comment:

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