Gyros
Easter Recipes Meat Dishes Oven Recipes Lamb Greek
I've finally found a way to successfully make gyros at home. I prepared a larger piece of meat, layered it with seasoned meat strips, and rolled it up. This way, when you slice it, you'll have pieces similar to those cut from a vertical grill, small and seasoned throughout, not just on the outside 😉 Slow roasting ensures the meat stays juicy, just like the best gyros I had in Crete.
And the lamb... let me tell you how I ended up getting it from Croatia? A few years ago, our host told us why their lamb is the best. They have a local wind along the coast called Bura that deposits salt on the rocks, exactly where the lambs graze. So the meat is already salted and more tender. And on Sunday, when I saw a lamb leg hanging at the market, I remembered the story and couldn't resist - I had to verify her claims.
Ingredients
1 lamb leg
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
gyros seasoning
salt
Servings: 4-6
How to prepare gyros
- Debone the lamb leg, ideally keeping it in one piece. The important thing is to have a larger piece where you can roll up the strips that you couldn't remove in one piece. If you're an expert and debone all the meat in one piece, cut 3-4 strips from the edge. Clean the meat of tendons and thicker membranes. I was left with 800g of meat after deboning.
- Sprinkle salt on all sides and refrigerate the meat until the next day.
- Crush the garlic and mix with the oil and lemon juice. Massage the meat well with this marinade and let it rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
- Generously sprinkle gyros seasoning over the meat (I used almost all of it, with about 1 teaspoon left). If the seasoning doesn't stick well to the meat, add 1-2 more tablespoons of oil.
- Take the large piece of leg and place it on the work surface. On top of it, arrange all the meat pieces that you couldn't debone in one piece or that you voluntarily cut after successfully deboning the leg 😋 . Roll up the leg and tie it in several places with kitchen string.
- Heat a baking pan on the stovetop and place the leg in it - you'll hear it sizzle. Put the pan in the oven at 220°C (425°F) for 15 minutes. Lower the temperature to 160°C (320°F) and leave for about 1 more hour. If you have a meat thermometer, check that the internal temperature reaches about 65°C (150°F).
- Remove the pan from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes, covered with aluminum foil.
- With a sharp knife, start from one end of the roll and cut thin, small slices, just like you see them do at fast-food places.
* Only slice as much as you'll eat so the meat doesn't dry out; keep the rest unsliced, it retains its juiciness better; it's best warm, but also great cold. - Serve with tomato slices, onion, french fries, and tzatziki. Serve on a plate or in pita bread.
Marinate the meat with garlic
Roll the seasoned meat
Cut thin slices
Gyros
Serve with tomatoes, onion, tzatziki and french fries
