Gyros

Note: This blog was written back in early Feb I believe.  With my mom being sick I am just sending it live tonight.


Hello friends!  Thank you for hanging out until my entrance back into the foodie world.  Life has had some pretty worrisome events taking place, but I think we are on the upswing and I miss the kitchen, I miss my foodie friends and it is great to be back!

Before I left town on an emergency 3 days ago, I had bought all the ingredients to make our own gyro meat.  My husband has been asking for quite some time and I just haven't researched it enough.  Well, I have had plenty of all-nighters lately so I did some research.  Everyone has an ingredient they say you can't be without.  I kind of took what I thought was imperative from each of them and just went for it.  My husband is asleep and he has no idea we are having it for dinner.  I hope it is spot on and I won't be retesting it tomorrow, but if you are seeing this, I likely hit a home run!

Ground lamb is not hard to find in any of my grocery stores.  If necessary you can buy some boneless lamb chops and have them ground by your butcher.  Just ask if you don't see it prepackaged. 

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb
3 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic powder
3 tsp. onion powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine all ingredients in a food processor.  You want this mixture to become almost like a dough.  If you don't have a food processor, use a hand or stand mixer and mix for 2-3 minutes.  If you have your hands, use those!  Now, excuse my honesty, but, the look of this mixture isn't going to be appetizing.  I have never been accused of not being truthful, so I am just laying it out there.  Be prepared.

Dump out on to a sprayed or lined baking pan. With wet hands form into a loaf shape.  Don't look at it, just do it.  HA!  If you want to use a loaf pan, go for it, otherwise let's get our "free form" on!

Place into the oven for 45-55 minutes.  Remove baking dish.  Carefully flip the loaf of gyro meat out, so that the bottom is now the top.  Place back into the oven for 10-15 minutes.  Our goal is to brown up all sides, just like it would be on a spit.

Remove and let cool 5 minutes.  My husband used this "retro" electric knife.  Retro is my way of saying my husband found it at a thrift store for 99 cents and it appears it has never even been used!  My husband is slightly obsessed with the electric knife at the moment.  Slice as thin or thick, but more thin, as you like.  Place on your warmed pita bread, top with any toppings you normally like.  We enjoy lettuce and tomato.

While I don't groove on tzatziki sauce, I do make an alternate sauce that I love!

1 cup sour cream
4-5 inches of a peeled and seeded cucumber
1/2 tsp dill seed (feel free to pulverize it in a spice grinder)

Mix together and chill until ready to use!

ENJOY!

Roasted Leg of Lamb, Simmerman style.

 Can I tell how much I dislike lpreparing lamb?   I don't dislike it, if I don't have to cook it.  But let me explain why I can't eat it if I have prepared it.  The texture of the skin on a leg of lamb, feel much like cutting human skin to me.  OK.  Gross, I know.  But, has that ever stopped me before?  I seriously can't believe I just wrote that, but, my bigger concern is you all wondering how I know what cutting human flesh is like. (if you could hear how hard I am laughing, I think out of nervousness). I just can't prepare it, and then have to eat it.  I will eat it from a restaurant, no problem.  But there are a few other misconceptions about lamb I want to set straight.  Well, according to me anyway.

"You must eat lamb with mint of some sort".  Not in my world.  In my world mint is to cover up the flavor of a poorly prepared roast.   I had lamb the first time years ago and it tasted "dirty" to me.  After I met my husband the lamb lover,  I took some tips from him, and learned to roast this to perfection.  We don't use traditional items, mint or rosemary.  We do however use TONS of garlic!  I guarantee your lamb will be perfect every single time, full of flavor, and moist!!  The flavor will be amazing and you will wonder how you ever didn't like it before.  So for the sake of my undying love for my hubby, (and son, who always requested leg of lamb for his birthday meal) I bring you, a lovely roast leg of lamb

You can prepare this lamb as per the directions, put it in a large Ziploc or cover tightly and let sit in your fridge for up to 24 hours.  I did not marinate mine, and it was still incredible.  So if you are a "do ahead" kinda person, you have the option.   Purchase a leg of lamb, bone IN as big or small as you need it.  Lamb is expensive right now.  I happened to hit a 50% off sale using my member card at this grocery store I loathe.  That is an entirely different blog.

You will need:
1 bone in leg of lamb
1 head of garlic, separated, peeled and left whole (12-15 cloves)
2 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
1 tbsp dried basil
olive oil
salt and pepper

You will preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place lamb into a large baking pan or roaster.  Taking a knife, cut deep slits all over the outside.  Make as many slits as you have pieces of garlic.  (feel free to use even more garlic if you like).  After you have placed your garlic, drizzle about 3-4 tbsps of olive oil all over.  Take your dried spices and sprinkle or rub into the meat all over.  Salt and pepper as much or as little as you prefer.  Oh yea,  I believe I used about 15-20. It should look like this....

Cover with foil, and roast until your internal temp is 140-150.  We like ours pretty med-rare so I roasted it to 140 degrees.  Perfection.  It took approx 2.5 hours for a 7 lb leg of lamb but make sure to use your meat thermometer, that is the only way to make sure it is cooked to a safe, and preferred temperature!  I removed my foil about 30 minutes before I took it out.  Let it rest a good 15-20 minutes before slicing!

Here is what we got when we pulled it out...(I made a big one and didn't even have a big enough platter so plastic it was!)

 

So there it is.  I know what you are thinking there is no way it can be juicy when I have cut all those slits in it.  It is, they are all on top, no juice runs out the bottom and it is so juicy you can SEE it in the cover photo!  No mint, no dirty taste, simply a masterpiece! HA! The Simmermans way to a beautiful roasted, garlictabulous roast leg of lamb!  Forget about the human flesh thing and just enjoy! xoxo

 

Your "still SLIGHTLY unsure about lamb in general" chefwannabe