Greek Meat Loaves Recipes

GREEK MEATBALLS RECIPE (KEFTEDES/ KEFTETHES)

Steps:

• To prepare this traditional Greek meatballs recipe (keftedes), add all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix well (for about 5-10 minutes), squeezing with your hands, to allow the flavours to blend. Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
• Turn the mixture for the keftedes out of the fridge and roll into meatballs the size of a walnut (or bigger if you prefer). If you're frying them, dredge the rolled meatballs lightly in flour making sure to shake off any excess. Fry until nicely browned on all sides.
• The traditional way of cooking Greek meatballs (keftedes) is frying them. Fry the keftedes in batches of 10-15 at a time, until nicely browned on all sides.
• Instead of frying you can bake / grill the keftedes in the oven. Preheat the oven at 200C, place the un-floured keftedes on greased baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning the meatballs upside down midway through cooking time. The grilled version is much lighter than the fried so theres not excuse to not trying it now!
• Keftedes (Greek meatballs) are ideally served as an appetizer (meze) with some creamy tzatziki sauce and pita breads or as a main course with some basmati rice and a Greek salad. Enjoy!

TRADITIONAL GYRO MEAT

Steps:

• Place the onion in a food processor, and process until finely chopped. Scoop the onions onto the center of a towel, gather up the ends of the towel, and squeeze out the liquid from the onions. Place the onions into a mixing bowl along with the lamb and beef. Season with the garlic, oregano, cumin, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, black pepper, and salt. Mix well with your hands until well combined. Cover, and refrigerate 1 to 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Place the meat mixture into the food processor, and pulse for about a minute until finely chopped and the mixture feels tacky. Pack the meat mixture into a 7x4 inch loaf pan, making sure there are no air pockets. Line a roasting pan with a damp kitchen towel. Place the loaf pan on the towel, inside the roasting pan, and place into the preheated oven. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the loaf pan.
• Bake until the gyro meat is no longer pink in the center, and the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F (75 degrees C) on a meat thermometer, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Pour off any accumulated fat, and allow to cool slightly before slicing thinly and serving.

GYRO MEAT RECIPE

Steps:

• Place onions, garlic into a large food processor and process until finely chopped but not liquefied.
• Add meat and all the seasonings and grind for another 3-5 minutes. Do not skip this step. If you do, it will be like ground beef with some weird seasonings in it. Grind it until it's a big, huge, sticky mess that you wonder how you will ever clean up.
• Since writing this recipe I've discovered a faster way to do this, which is to use your stand mixer with the paddle. Paddle the living daylights out of the meat with the spices until it's a sticky mess. This is a lot easier to clean up than a blender, and the end result is the same. So use whatever you have that works for you.
• Put into a foil pan, and smooth out the top, and bake at 350 for 60 mins, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 175-180
• Take it out of the oven and drain all the fat.
• Cover it with foil and then place something heavy on it to compress it. I put a cast iron skillet on top and then carefully placed 3 cans of beans on top of the skillet to compress it.
• Let it rest for 30 mins and then slice into thin slices.
• Gyros!

GREEK MEAT LOAVES

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the first 10 ingredients. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Pat into two greased 8x4-in. loaf pans. Cover and freeze one meat loaf for up to 3 months., Bake remaining meat loaf, uncovered, at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until no pink remains and a thermometer reads 160°. Let stand for 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate; sprinkle with cheese. , To use frozen meat loaf: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Bake as directed; sprinkle with cheese.

GREEK MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• In large bowl, mix all ingredients just until well combined but not overmixed.
• In 13x9 metal baking pan, shape meat mixture into 9x5 inch loaf.
• Bake meat loaf 1 hour approx, drain fat half way through cooking, if needed.
• Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

MINI GREEK-STYLE MEAT LOAVES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in 1 tablespoons mint, 1 tablespoons thyme, 1/4 teaspoons salt, allspice, and next 3 ingredients (through egg). Press meat mixture into 8 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450 degrees for 7 minutes. Turn broiler to high; broil 3 minutes.
• Combine yogurt, feta, 1 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoons mint, and 1 teaspoons thyme in a mini food processor; pulse 10 times to combine.
• Combine 1 tablespoons oil, 1 tablespoons juice, 1/8 teaspoons salt, and pepper in a bowl; stir. Add arugula and cucumber; toss.
• Serve meat loaf with yogurt/feta sauce with arugula/cucumber salad on the side.

GREEK LOAF

Steps:

• In bread machine pan, place the first seven ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer. Select basic bread setting. Choose crust color and loaf size if available. Bake according to bread machine directions (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed)., Just before the final kneading (your machine may audibly signal this), add the olives.