Greek Lamb Gyros With Tzatziki And Feta Salad
Recipe & Food Styling ANNA Magazine, Photography Jerry Grajewski
Greece comes to the table with a healthy and delicious boneless lamb with savoury tzatziki stuffed into warm Greek-style pitas. This will surely become a family favourite.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
16 cloves garlic, divided
2 tablespoons honey
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4 pounds boneless leg of lamb, untied
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to season
6 - 8 Greek-style pitas, warmed
Tzatziki
1 English cucumber
2 cups plain Greek yogurt
Juice of ½ lemon
1 clove garlic, chopped
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Spinach salad with lemon vinaigrette
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1 cup fresh peas, shelled
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Lemon vinaigrette (whisk juice of ½ lemon with ¼ - ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil)
Preparation
For lamb, chop rosemary together with 4 cloves garlic. Place in large, resealable plastic bag with honey, lemon juice and zest. Add leg of lamb and marinate in refrigerator overnight. Remove lamb from refrigerator about 1 hour before baking.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Season lamb with salt and pepper; roll up and tie 4 to 6 times with kitchen twine. Using small knife, cut 12 slashes into surface of lamb and stuff remaining garlic (cut larger cloves in half) into each slash. Rub rolled lamb with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Bake for 2 to 2 ½ hours or until meat thermometer reads 130 ̊F for medium rare. Allow lamb to rest for at least 40 minutes; then heat oven to 500°F and place lamb back in oven to crisp and brown for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and remove twine. Slice thinly to serve.
For tzatziki, cut cucumber in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove seeds. Grate cucumber on large holes of a box grater. squeeze excess water from grated cucumber using clean dish towel. Place remaining ingredients in bowl, add cucumber and stir to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Refrigerate until ready to use.
To serve, warm pitas in oven still warm from the lamb roast, for a few minutes. Toss salad and stuff lamb and salad into pitas and drizzle with Tzatziki.
Note: A good rule of thumb is to cook lamb 45-1 hour per pound, the crisp at end as recipe states.