Lamb Gyros

Coming back from Team Trials, Ian's car-ful of people stopped at a diner, somewhere along I-84, and I had some delicious gyros. So delicious that I decided that I had to make some for myself. We stole Ross for the evening, since Sam had a retirement party to attend, and fed him lamb gyros and pitas and we were all pretty happy with how they'd turned out. I made the lamb mixture earlier in the day, and kneaded dough for the pitas. Then when we all got home from the Park-O, it was pretty quick to fry some lamb patties and bake the pitas. We also had fresh greek yogurt from the Greek place, and olives, and feta, all delicious stuff.

Lamb patties:
Made enough for three hungry people, might feed four regular folk
1/2lb lamb - if you can get it ground, great, if it's in chunks, that's fine too
1/4C bulgur wheat, cooked
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbs rosemary
2 tsp marjoram or oregano
Other tasty things are optional.

Slice the lamb chunks against the grain, and then slice those long pieces into little chunks. Put them in a food processor and process until it makes a paste. Put in a big bowl. Put the onion and garlic in a food processor, process that to a paste, and drain the water, squeezing with your hands. Add to the bowl. Add the other stuff. Mix it around. Take a tiny bit and cook in a frying pan, taste, and adjust seasoning.

Let the lamb mixture sit marinating for at least an hour. Then break off pieces with your hands and make little mini hamburgers. Smaller is better, for more texture of crust, but, that also takes longer. Fry in a frying pan, with some oil to lubricate things.

Pitas
Made 8
1-1/4C warm water
1 packet yeast
1tbs sugar
3.5C flour (and more as necessary)
2tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil

Put water and yeast and sugar in a bowl. Stir in flour one cup at a time. After the first cup, add olive oil and salt. Keep adding flour until it's bread-like. Knead for 5-10 minutes. Let it rise in a greased bowl for minimum 1.5hrs. Cut into 8 pieces, roll into round pitas, cook for 10-15min (?) at 400F. Take out of the oven before they get brown.

Tzatziki sauce
1C Greek yogurt
2 little salad cucumbers
salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste


Put pita, tzatziki sauce, lamb meatballs, chopped peppers, and crumbled feta in a stack. Roll up pita, and eat! Ed is looking pretty pleased with his gyro here.
As is Ross. You can't see the drool, but he can't wait to tear into this thing. It definitely got a good Ed-rating. Most delicious!