gyros;

Last weekend we had a feast!  My parents and my godparents were in town, and we made enough food to feed a small army!  I made lamb kebabs (check out the recipe here), roasted broccoli, naan, rice, and then my key lime pie bars and oreo brownies (I have yet to post the recipe!).  I ended up making gyros tonight because I had extra lamb, and the recipe I found on pinterest from food.com looked surprisingly easy!  That and we picked up our adopted shiba inu Kenichi today!!!!  Squeeee!  So T and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him, and I didn’t feel like going out to the grocery store to plan something big.  Here’s a picture of the big cutie!  He’s still getting adjusted, but we’re planning to smother him in love and toys and yummy food, so I think it’s only a matter of time before he’s integrated into our household!

But, so as not to go on too much about the pup, the gyro recipe was quite easy, and definitely tasted pretty close to the real thing!  That said, there’s still nothing like actual gyro meat from a kebab place, but this is a pretty easy make-at-home substitute!  The recipe at food.com mentions Alton Brown’s original recipe, and he uses a food processor.  I have only a tiny food processor because we don’t have the counter space for the big one that I want, so I tend to use my blender, and that’s a pain to clean, so I like that this recipe doesn’t actually require it!  I’ll bet the texture would be even better if you did use it, though, even smoother.  

There was also a comment on the recipe page, about adding “more authentic spices”.  Now I don’t pretend to know the “authentic” spices in kebabs or gyros, but they suggested “decreasing the oregano to 1 t., and adding 1 t. of Marjoram, and 1 t. of crushed Rosemary”.  This time I followed the recipe, but would consider trying some variations next time!

I just served these up on some storebought naan, with some tzatziki spread across the bottom, topped with an extra sprig of fresh dill, and they were a perfect ending to our day!  This recipe is nice because you can do all the work up front and then it cooks for an hour, so you can prepare other dishes, or just set it and forget it for when you have company!  I’d be curious to try making this beforehand and just popping it in the oven when guests arrive, but I didn’t need to do that this time around, so let me know how it works for you if you try!

I’m sure you’ll hear more about our first weekend with Kenichi and all the adventures we’ll have!  We already took him for a long walk around the neighborhood, broke in all his new toys except for a few that we’re keeping in stock for entertainment value, and had lots of treats!  Tomorrow we’re up for a not-too-intensive hike, so I’ll keep you all posted on how that goes!

Related posts:

greek lamb burgers; tamale pie; tater tot hot dish; hello fresh: beef kofta; enchiladas;