First let me say that this has been a week of adventure with lamb. As much as I wanted to roast/grill an entire lamb piece, it just wasn’t in the card. None of the stores in town carried a lamb loin – at least none of the ones I visited. Perhaps I’ll find it next year and grill it.
In the end I used ground lamb prepared using seasonings from an Alton Brown episode on making Gyros, from which I also got the preparation for Tzatziki sauce. The wonton cups came from a Giada recipe for fish tacos.
So here goes (printer friendly):
Hardware
- Oven pre-heated to 375
- Food processor with metal blade
- 12″ non-stick skillet
- 12 count muffin pan
- basting brush
Software:
For the Tzatziki sauce:
- 1/2 medium cucumber, pealed, seeded, and chopped fine
- 8 oz of plain Greek yogurt - you can strain regular yogurt if you prefer
- 2 cloves of garlic pressed
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2-1 tsp dried mint leaves
For the wonton cups:
- 12 wonton wrappers
- canola oil
For the lamb:
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced and squeezed of water in a tea towel
- 10 oz ground lamb
- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tbsp dried marjoram
- 1/2 tbsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ground black pepper
For the gyro cup filling:
- 1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size, salted and drained on a paper towel,
- 3-4 large leaves of iceberg lettuce, roughly chopped
Preparation:
Start the Tzatziki sauce by removing the water from the cucumbers by squeezing them in a tea towel. Combine the drained cucumbers with the reminder of the sauce ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cover and refrigerate. The sauce will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for a week.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly brush the insides of the muffin pan cups with canola oil. Press a wonton wrapper all the way down into each of the cups and then up against the sides.
When the oven is ready, bake on the middle rack for 6 minutes or until lightly brown in color. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove cups from pan and cool completely another 10 minutes.
While the wontons are baking, combine the lamb, drained onion, and the remainder of the lamb ingredients in a food processor.
Process for about 1 minute, scraping down the sides as needed.
Add the olive oil to a non-stick pan and set it over medium to medium high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the lamb mixture and cook stirring occasionally until lightly browned through. Drain.
While the lamb is cooking dice, salt and drain the tomatos on a paper towel and rough chop the lettuce.
To assemble the cups, place a small amount of the chopped lettuce in the bottom, followed by a few of the cut grape tomatoes (4-5 pieces). Spoon in a bit of the lamb and top with a dollop of Tzatziki sauce.
Observations
The Tzatziki sauce is quite tart. My wife, who’s not a fan of tartness, didn’t like the Tzatziki sauce at all. Even after adding another pinch or 2 of salt to help with the bitterness, it was still on the tart side. You may want to put the sauce on the side or use a less-tart sauce.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed the puckering tartness combined with the sweetness of the grape tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. The lamb was nicely seasoned, smooth tasting, and nicely creamy which contrasted nicely with the extremely crunchy shell. They were good enough for me to eat all 12!
There’s easily enough lamb and Tzatziki sauce for another dozen wonton cups, but I’ll save them for something else.
