Mini-Gyros

Originally called "lamb pizzettes" or something like that, these are really lamb on tiny pita rounds. Or, as Adam dubbed them, "mini gyros". Part of my weekly experimentation that I pass off as feeding the guys at Populi I thought these were particularly tasty and a good place to start blogging about the backlog of these Friday recipes.

You can use mini pitas split in two, but we don't actually have those in store around here so I bought two bags of five pitas and then used a 2" biscuit cutter to cut five rounds from each pita. Worked like a charm. And for locals wondering where to get some good ground lamb, I really recommend the Anderson Ranch ground lamb sold at the Co-Op.

Mini Gyros

(Yield: 50 rounds)

Olive oil

50 2" pitas

2 scallions, chopped fine

1/4 c chopped fresh mint

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin seed

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs pine nuts

1 egg

1 lb ground lamb

1 c plain yogurt

2 tsp chile oil (or a good chile hot sauce)

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425

1) Combine the yogurt with the chile oil, 2 tbs of mint and season with salt and pepper. You can make this a day ahead and refrigerate.

2) Lay out the pita rounds on baking sheets and brush lightly with olive oil. Bake for about 6-8 minutes, or until just lightly toasted.

3) Combine half of the mint (2 tbs) with the scallions, cumin, cinnamon, pine nuts, egg, salt, pepper and lamb. Squish that until well mixed.

4) Spread a rounded tsp of lamb on each pita in an even layer. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the lamb is cooked.

5) Top the cooked mini gyros with a teaspoon of the yogurt mixture and serve.