Beef Gyros

When gardening season hits our little slice of the world, it hits hard. I feel like Crysta from FernGully would be proud. When I was recipe testing these, I used the dill, lettuce, onion, cucumber, and fresh herbs from the garden. I did a lot of recipe research, if you will, when perfecting this. I will be fully transparent that these beef meatballs are not the traditional greek beef gyros. Historically you would cut the ground meat in the recipe half lamb and half beef, and you would combine the ground meat with the minced onion in batches until completely emulsified. Historically you would then press this into a shallow loaf pan, bake and slice extremely thin.

I wanted a spin on this. But if you are feeling traditional, feel free to create your beef gyro this way rather than in meatballs.

Ingredients

For gyro meatballs-

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 1 yellow onion, diced

• 2 tbsp garlic, minced

• 1 tbsp dried oregano

• 1 tbsp ground cumin

• 1 tbsp dried rosemary

• 1 tbsp dried thyme

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pepper

Additional ingredients

• Tzatziki sauce (Here is the link to my recipe)

• Red onion

• tomatoes

• green leaf lettuce

• kalamata olives

• 2 tbsp avocado oil

Instructions

1. in a medium size bowl, mix ground beef, onions, and spices until well combined.

2. Form ping pong size balls and set aside.

3. in a medium sized skillet add avocado oil and heat on medium high.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

5. in batches, sear meatballs on all sides before transferring to the baking sheet.

6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

7. Bake meatballs for 25 minutes, or until fully cooked.

8. Remove from oven and let cool.

9. If you choose to attempt the tzatziki, do so now.

10. Assemble your pita or lettuce into a wrap.

11. Enjoy!