Gyros & Tzatziki

Now that my finger is healed up (for the most part) I'm back to using the blender (at least, the food processor attachment).

As a fan of gyros and doner kebabs, I decided to make some for my roommates. The recipe for the meat was pretty easy (I used Alton Brown's recipe) though finding a regular (not non-stick!) loaf pan proved futile. Pyrex makes a very nice glass thing that is vaguely loaf-pan shaped.

I managed to not get my finger caught in the food processor, and managed to puree two pounds of lamb in about 4 batches in a tiny food processor attachment to the stick blender.

Keep in mind that onions hate being processed even more than they hate being chopped. Onions usually don't bother me much. My eyes will water but what ever. However, when I ran that thing through the food processor, I had tears streaming down my face. I was about ready to get out my roommate's chemistry goggles that she uses to chop onions!

The fun (and yummy!) part is always the tzatziki. I don't use Alton Brown's recipe, I think that it's overly complicated. Really, you only need greek yogurt (or regular yogurt that has had the water drained out) a cucumber, garlic, and dill.

Remove the seeds from the cucumber and salt heavily, cut side down. Mince the garlic (as much as you'd like) and mix it and the dill into the yogurt.

Rinse the cucumber and chop it up, and then mix the pieces into the yogurt. Viola! Tzatziki!

Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and crumbled feta all go well for people to make their own gyros with!


EDIT:

So it ended up more of a meatloaf consistency than a gyros meat consistency. Very very yummy, but it didn't congeal right. If you can, do it on a rotisserie. If not, pan fry the meatloaf like bits and it works just fine, even if it's not long juicy strips like you get from the doner kebab stands!