Falafel Gyros
Last week I made a Mediterranean bowl with tzatziki sauce. I ended up with a bit more tzatziki sauce than I needed for the bowl. I am of the waste not want not mindset which means I had to come up with a recipe that incorporated the leftover tzatziki. I also had some falafel and cucumber tomato mixture left over and realized I had some pita bread in the pantry. So, after some pondering a lightbulb went off… why not falafel gyros! The only ingredient missing was feta, and that was easy enough to pick up from the store.
My second dilemma of the day… what to pair the gyro with. Usually when you go to a Greek restaurant, you'll get a gyro and lemony garlic wedge fries. At least, that's what I've always gotten. I wanted that French fry taste, but didn't want to go through the process of making fries, or getting frozen ones to cook. What else tastes like fries but isn't…. DUH. Potatoes. Let me tell you, the weather was really getting to me that day… it took way too long to decide what to make. So I landed on potatoes. But what kind? I didn't want anything too big, but those small jewel potatoes were a perfect size. I cut them in to quarters, drizzled them in olive oil, garlic and lemon juice and baked them for about an hour. They came out perfectly roasted with the same flavor I wanted from fries.
Here is my delicious, fresh, flavorful but probably highly inauthentic, falafel gyro recipe. This recipe is for one gyro - but just double the ingredients if you want multiples. The potatoes serve about 4.
Ingredients:
Tzatziki Sauce:
1/2 cu grated cucumber
1 cup Greek yogurt - whole milk
1 tbsp lemon
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic grated
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh dill
Cucumber Tomato Salad:
3/4 cu cucumber, thinly sliced
1 cu halved cherry tomatoes
Drizzle olive oil
Salt to taste
Gyro:
Pita Bread
1-2 tbsp Tzatziki Sauce - enough to cover pita
1 tbsp Feta
3 Falafel rounds
1-2 tbsp cucumber tomato salad (recipe below
Handful of spinach
Olive Oil
Potato Side Dish:
1lb of small potatoes, I did the gemstone potatoes
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Recipe:
Tzatziki Sauce:
Like I said earlier, I started with this first so I could let it chill. No one wants a warm dressing. At least I don't :)
Grate the cucumber, press with paper towel to dry off. The thinner the slices the wetter it will be.
Mix remaining ingredients together in a bowl. Chill until ready to serve.
Makes one small to medium sized Tupperware container full
Cucumber/ Tomato Salad:
Cut cucumber and tomato. Add in to bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and top generously with sea salt.
Mix and set aside - to be added to the base once put together
Gyro:
Pre-heat the gyro by placing on to the roasted potatoes or on to preheated oven. Remove once warm to the touch - about 5 min.
Add layer of tzatziki sauce to pita. Can be as thick or thin as you would like
Add layer of feta
Cook frozen falafel - following package instructions
Add falafel to pita
Add cucumber/ tomato mixture
Add handful of spinach or other leafy green
Top with dill
Potatoes:
Preheat oven to 350
Rinse and dry your potatoes
Cut in to bite sized pieces, I quartered mine
Place in to medium sized bowl. Add olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Mix to cover
Add potatoes to baking sheet. Roast in oven for about an hour. Turning the potatoes every 10-15 min for an even roast.
I had extra frozen falafel so that's why I went the non-meat route, but you could easily swap this for chicken or pork. I would also recommend getting better quality pita. My closest grocery is really not the best when it comes to non -basics. They actually only had this one type of pita bread. I wouldn't say it was awful, but it was definitely on the dryer side. Luckily the sauce, vegetables and feta more than made up for it.
This dish was really such a perfect combo of fresh and filling. The crunch of the cucumber combined with the heartiness and warmth of the falafel. Mmmm chefs kiss.
