The June Daring Cooks’ challenge sure kept us rolling – meatballs, that is! Shelley from C Mom Cook and Ruth from TheCrafts of Mommyhood challenged us to try meatballs from around the world and to create our own meatball meal celebrating a culture or cuisine of our own choice.
When I was growing up, my town had an indoor flea market.
On Saturdays and Sundays, the market would fill with vendors selling
everything from live goldfish to scarves, stickers, jewelry and cassette tapes.
I loved walking through the market, seeing how far I could stretch the few
dollars I'd earned from mowing the lawn or babysitting my little sister.
The back of the market was where the food vendors set up.
Decades later, I still remember the mouthwatering smells coming from the
Greek stall. It was the gyros, in particular, that I ordered time after time. I
loved the combination of fragrant, spit roasted meat, sliced thin and tossed
onto a pillowy pita, topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, and garlicky tzatziki. That's the flavor I tried to recreate for this months'
Daring Cooks' Challenge, which asked us to create an international meatball.
I
searched online for a gyro recipe, to see what spices give gyros their
distinctive flavor. The recipe I found called for Greek seasoning, which I
didn't have. According to a note in the recipe, Greek seasoning is a combination of "coarse flake salt, granulated garlic powder, Tellicherry black pepper, onion powder, Greek fancy oregano and powdered lemon peel." I pulled together most of those ingredients and substituted as best I could for things I didn't have.
The resulting meatballs
were good. They were moist and flavorful and satisfying wrapped in naan and topped with the traditional gyro accompaniments. But they didn't quite capture the flavor I was looking for. That indoor flea market shut its doors years ago. So I guess I'll have to keep searching for a gyro that lives up to the one in my memories.
Finely chop onion in food processor.
When browned, transfer meatballs to a baking sheet.
Bake until meatballs are cooked through.
Serve on pita bread or naan, with tzaziki, lettuce, tomato and onion.
Gyro Meatballs
1 small onion, cut into chunks
1 pound ground beef (or a combination of beef and lamb)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp ground dried rosemary
1 tsp ground dried thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp Greek seasoning (or use a combination of garlic
powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, dried Greek oregano and powdered
lemon peel)
For serving: soft pita or naan, tzaziki, lettuce, tomato,
onion
1. Preheat
oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put
onion in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add all seasonings to
onion. Pulse until onion and seasonings are well blended.
3. Place
the ground beef into a large bowl. Add the onion mixture. Mix together with
your hands until well combined. Roll into golf ball size meatballs.
4. Heat
canola oil in a large frying pan. Working in batches, cook meatballs until
browned on all sides, but not cooked through. Transfer meatballs to a sheet
pan.
5. When
all the meatballs are browned, place the sheet pan in the oven. Cook for 15 to
20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through but still moist.
6. To
serve, put meatballs on pita bread. Top with tzaziki, lettuce, tomato and
onion.
Makes about 20 meatballs.
