Just a Darling Life has gone GREEK! We made these delicious greek beef gyro sandwiches and a lemon rice pilaf and oh boy did we fall in love with them! Despite the long list of ingredients, they were pretty easy to make! Oh and the marinade for the meat? It's our favorite, we use it all the time! It's excellent to marinate some beef with just to throw on the grill!
3-4 slices thin sliced tri tip or flank steak
1 large tomato
1/2 red onion
1 cucumber
pita bread
tzatziki sauce (I'm particularly fond of the one from Trader Joe's)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For the Marinade:
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
6-7 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4-5 sprigs fresh rosemary
salt
pepper
For the Lemon Rice Pilaf:
1 cup long grain white rice
3 tablespoons orzo pasta
1/2 onion
1/2 cup lemon juice (juice from about 2 lemons)
2 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh chopped parsley
[What to do]
First things first you want to marinate your meat! Generously salt and pepper each side of your meat and sprinkle with chopped rosemary and garlic. Put the meat in a plastic bag with a sprig of fresh rosemary between each piece of meat and pour in the rest of the ingredients for the marinade and mix it up to make sure all sides of the meat are coated with the marinade. Let sit in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
Take your meat out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature before you begin cooking it. When it is coming to room temperature, dice up your tomato, cucumber, and red onion and mix together in a bowl and set aside.
Dice up your half an onion for your rice. In a medium sized sauce pan over high heat, saute the onion in the butter for about 3 minutes or until cooked through. Add in the rice and orzo into the onion/butter mixture and continue to saute (and constantly stir) for about 2-3 minutes until the rice starts to brown. Add in the chicken broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Next cover and turn down to low to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked through. Fluff up with a fork before serving.
To cook the meat, heat the vegetable oil in a cast iron skillet until hot and it just starts to smoke. One at a time, cook each piece of meat about 1.5 minutes on each side. When your meet is cooked, cut into slices.
Toast your pita bread to heat it up. Top with slices of meat, your cucumber, tomato, red onion mix, and tzatziki sauce. Serve with your lemon rice pilaf and a side of hummus and pita bread! (We are particularly fond of a Scordalia Hummus aka mashed potato hummus, when we perfect our recipe, we will be sure to share it with you!)