Gyro Meat with Tzatziki Sauce

My mother has made this recipe using lamb, chicken, and turkey ground meat. Our favorite was ground chicken…but of course when I went grocery shopping they were out and so I used ground turkey. I was really craving gyros. Dinner came out well but my husband wasn’t too crazy about the turkey meat. I loved the tzatziki sauce. I made it using Greek yogurt so I omitted the part where you had to strain the yogurt. If you have ever had Greek yogurt it is delicious and you will never go back to regular yogurt again! It is so rich, smooth and creamy.

Gyro Meat with Tzatziki Sauce
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005

Ingredients
•1 medium onion, finely chopped or shredded
•2 pounds ground lamb
•1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
•1 tablespoon dried marjoram
•1 tablespoon dried ground rosemary
•2 teaspoons kosher salt
•1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

•Tzatziki Sauce, recipe follows
Directions
Process the onion in a food processor for 10 to 15 seconds and turn out into the center of a tea towel. Gather up the ends of the towel and squeeze until almost all of the juice is removed. Discard juice.
Return the onion to the food processor and add the lamb, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, salt, and pepper andprocess until it is a fine paste, approximately 1 minute. Stop the processor as needed to scrape down sides of bowl.
To cook in the oven as a meatloaf, proceed as follows:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Place the mixture into a loaf pan, making sure to press into the sides of the pan. Place the loaf pan into a water bath and bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until the mixture reaches 165 to 170 degrees F. Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the loaf pan on a cooling rack and place a brick wrapped in aluminum foil directly on the surface of the meat and allow to sit for 15 to 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 175 degrees F. Slice and serve on pita bread with tzatziki sauce, chopped onion, tomatoes and feta cheese.

Tzatziki Sauce:
16 ounces plain yogurt
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
Pinch kosher salt
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
5 to 6 mint leaves, finely minced
Place the yogurt in a tea towel, gather up the edges, suspend over a bowl, and drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Place the chopped cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze to remove the liquid; discard liquid. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the drained yogurt, cucumber, salt, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and mint. Serve as a sauce for gyros. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
Yield: 1 1/2 cups