Gyros

The last thing I posted was about all the time I spent making freezer meals.  It was a lot of work, and I'm guessing it seemed like too much to some.  I intended to make a list of things I was able to do because I had the freezer meals, but... I didn't.  I forget to document stuff.  So I don't have a comprehensive list, but I will say that I find life a lot easier when I have freezer meals.  It's easier for to find the time and energy for other things when I don't have to worry about dinner, and it's easier for me to keep up on cleaning the kitchen and other housework when I don't have cooking messes all the time.  I didn't keep a written record, but from memory here's some of the things I did now that dinner was taken care of:

• I started exercising
• I had all of my dishes washed at once
• We went to the beach
• I caught up on the laundry
• I took my kids to the park frequently
• The kids and I colored the driveway with sidewalk chalk
• I took my kids to the children's museum several times
• I did a science experiment with my kids
• I started making Halloween costumes
• We went to a peach festival
• We went to a u-pick flower farm
• We went to an amusement park
• I tackled the mountain of papers covering the desk
• I made and froze a huge batch of zucchini pancakes from some large zucchinis someone gave us from their garden
• I made and froze tomato sauce with a bunch of tomatoes someone gave us from their garden
• I caught up on laundry again (too busy doing fun things and fell behind again)
• I took my kids school clothes shopping
• We went to the zoo

All the while eating delicious food.

I've also been cooking more than I expected lately.  We were the grateful recipients of a lot of garden produce that I wanted to use.  Even cooking is made easier because the kitchen stays cleaner when I don't have to cook dinner every day.

Anyway, on to the gyros!  These are one of my husband's favorites, but it's been a while since we've had them.  I've never frozen them before.  Traditionally gyro meat is shaped into a log and cooked on a rotisserie.  This causes a few problems for me:

• I do not own a rotisserie
• Meat logs take a long time to defrost. I let meatloaf defrost 48 hours before cooking, which can be inconvenient.
• A meat log is a lot of food. My family can eat one for two meals and still have leftovers.

I decided to try shaping the gyro meat into patties.  This makes it so they don't need to be thawed at all.  They can go straight from the freezer to the pan, and I can cook as many or as few patties as my family will eat.  The patties turned out great.  I highly recommend them.

Adapted from: Good Eats

Difficulty: Easy
Category: Freezer to Pan
Recipe Column: AD

Gyro Patties

Serves 6 to 8

1 onion, minced
2 lbs ground lamb
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp dried marjoram
1 tbsp dried, ground rosemary
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly.
2. Shape the meat into six to eight patties.

To freeze:

Place patties on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  You can do up to two layers of patties on the same pan, but place parchment paper between the layers.  Freeze the patties on the sheet tray.  Once frozen transfer them to a container or bag for storage.

To serve:

Coat a pan with a thin layer of olive oil and heat over medium heat.  Place the frozen patties in the pan in a single layer.  Cover with a lid to help the meat cook through.  When the patties are brown on one side, flip and cover with the lid again.  Cook until the patties reach an internal temperature of 175 degrees.  You may need to turn down the heat as you cook too keep the outside from burning before the inside gets up to temperature.

Serve with lettuce, tomato, red onion, pita bread and tzatziki sauce.      

Tzatziki Sauce
1/2 cucumber
1 cup Greek yogurt
pinch of garlic powder (optional)
dash of lemon juice
sprinkle of dry dill

1. Coarsely grate the cucumber.  Gather up the grated cucumber and gently squeeze excess moisture out of the cucumber before transferring it to a small mixing bowl.
2. Combine all the ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.