My Big Fat Greek Kitchen

This week for some reason I have been wanting Greek food.  Don't know why, could be something to do with making insane amounts of Tzatziki sauce at work.  Anyway, this Greek craving prompted the making of turkey gyros Monday night.  I had never made them before but had made the Tzatziki sauce (obviously) and had seen coworkers make gyros so I figured I could wing it.  Luckily, I was right!  So here is the recipe. . .it was a little difficult to write because I just made it up as I went along.  Hopefully it makes sense: )

Whitney's Turkey Gyro Pita Sandwich Thingys

Ingredients:
  1 lb thin sliced turkey (I used just plain oven roasted turkey from my grocery's deli)
  4 pitas 
  2 or 3 teaspoons Greek Seasoning (buy from store or see below)
  Tzatziki sauce (see below or buy from store: )
  Spinach (enough for 4 pita sandwiches)
  Feta cheese
Yield- 4 pita sandwich things
Method:
  Preheat oven to 300.  Place a skillet over medium-high heat (or use a griddle set to 200-250) and add about 2 or 3 teaspoons olive oil to the pan.  Here you could either season the turkey with the Greek seasoning then add it to the hot pan or add the turkey to the hot pan and toss with seasoning.  I chose the latter, but I'm pretty sure it will turn out the same either way.  While turkey is cooking, stick pitas in the warm oven.  It should only take a couple minutes to get the pitas warm.  Toss turkey a couple times while cooking.  Cook until turkey is slightly browned.  
  When turkey is done it is time to assemble the pita sandwich thingys!  Put warm pita on the plate, spread desired amount of tzatziki sauce on the pita.  Layer spinach, turkey and feta cheese over sauce.  


You can either eat them open-faced with a fork like this:

 (Sorry for the awful picture and the shadow of me holding the camera)

Or you can fold it taco style and eat it like a sandwich thingy: )  Like this:

(I made a rather large pita sandwich and had  to hold it down: )


Okay now for the Greek Seasoning.  
Note:  This is just what I use as Greek seasoning.  There are many different spice combinations that will work for Greek style seasoning.  Google is an excellent resource if you would like to play around with your own combinations.  Also, zatar seasoning is another type of Greek seasoning that would work great.


Greek Seasoning
  Equal parts:  Onion powder, cumin, pepper, oregano and garlic salt.  I probably added a little more oregano and garlic salt than the other spices.  You can either make this in bulk ahead of time by mixing everything together and storing in an airtight storage container (great seasoning mix for other dishes, btw) or just sprinkle the different seasonings on the turkey in approximately equal amounts.  I, again, chose the latter: ) 


Tzatziki sauce
   1 cup plain yogurt
   1/4 cup very finely diced red onion
   1/4 cup very finely diced cucumber 
   1.5 teaspoons dried dill
   .5 teaspoons dried basil
   1.5 teaspoons lemon juice
Mix all ingredients together and let chill for an hour or so before using.  You can use it right away, but the flavors fully combine and it tastes a little better after chilling for a while.


It may be worth making extra tzatziki sauce and Greek seasoning.  I definitely made way too much tzatziki sauce and therefore needed something to make to use the leftovers. Because I was still craving Greek food, Tuesday night I made Gyro burgers.  Add Greek seasoning (as much or as little as you want, depending on how much you want to flavor the burger), 1/2 cup finely diced red onion, 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 1-2 tsps crushed red pepper flakes and some finely crumbled feta cheese (how much, again, depends on how much you want) to 1 pound ground beef or turkey.  Form into 1/4 pound patties and grill (I used my griddle because it is WAY too cold outside for the actual grill).  When patties are close to being done, top with a slice of mild cheese, I used swiss, and cook until melted. Top with tzatziki sauce and spinach and sandwich between two whole grain buns.  Excellent!

You can also add other vegetables and/or cheeses to your gyros or gyro burgers.  Romain or iceburg lettuce (or just about any other leafy green) would work instead of spinach.  You could add diced tomatoes or peppers as well.  Its up to you!

Again, let me know if you have any questions: ).