Going Greek

I’ve talked about food memories here before. From Hanukkah meals at my mom’s house with dozens of latkes, to creating an edible memorial for my grandma, food memories are some of the most vivid that I have. Many of my food memories go back to my mom in the kitchen cooking things that filled the house with the scents that will forever be burned in my memory as “childhood”.

But there are some food memories that are “Dad” memories. For example, my dad made the best grilled cheese ever. EVER! He used sliced raw onion and tomato, and cheddar cheese, and buttered both sides of the bread so it got all melty and crunchy and gooey. My dad also made killer Chinese food hodge-podge, where all the leftover Chinese food got thrown into a hot wok, cooked for a bit, and then eaten. My mom made it too, but my dad is the one I associate with it for some reason. OH! And Dad also made this dip stuff with spinach and blue cheese (I think?) and cottage cheese… which reminds me, I have to get that recipe.

There’s one vivid food memory that both my sister and I share with my dad. There was this restaurant, Hub’s, down the street from us. Hub’s gained national fame in the early ’90s with a skit on SNL featuring the “You like it the juice?” guy, originally Jason Alexander… but I digress. My dad would get us carry out from Hub’s on the occasional night, but the really fun memories are of actually going to the restaurant.

We’d order our food (usually gyros for me and my sister, Greek chicken for my dad), fight over who got to hold the little ticket with our number on it, and while we waited, we’d play a game with a coin on the table. Whoever flicked the coin the closest to the edge without going over won. What we won, I don’t remember, but I definitely remember playing! I remember being fascinated by the huge spits of turning meat behind the counter, and wondering why exactly the fruit punch machine had to have the fruit punch flowing around in it like it did.

We’d pick up our food from the counter when the creepy lady who was missing a tooth almost inaudibly called our number in the scratchy microphone, and be stuffed to the gills with garlicky Greek food, and be chewing gum for the next two hours to get rid of the stink. Why this story tonight? Why this memory?

I made gyros! I didn’t buy a spit, and I didn’t grill them, but dang it, I made gyros. I found a recipe by Alton Brown and followed it almost to a “T”, which is rare for me. I did have to mess with the procedure a little because a) I don’t have a loaf pan and b) I was impatient and hungry, so I didn’t follow the procedure exactly. Most specifically, I didn’t press the cooked meat with a brick.

This recipe is from FoodTV.com by Alton Brown

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 and process 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

I ate mine on a Flat-Out Light wrap because, well, I just couldn’t do gyros not on bread of some sort. Adam will have his with pita. The only thing I would change next time is that I’ll make this more like a burger rather than a sliced meatloaf. And I’ll grill them outside. And I’ll use more garlic! The tzatziki sauce though, was perfect. It was just as I remember it at Hub’s, but there’s a difference… my table is black instead of mustard-yellow, and my dad’s 3000 miles away and no coin can go that far on my table. *Sigh*

I’m glad tomorrow’s Friday since it’s been a crazy week; my OpenSky Group Shop ends at midnight… did you get your EnviTote yet?

I’m going to leave you with some very mellow Raven:

Tagged as: Chicago dining, family, food, Greek, lamb, recipe, red meat, simple recipe