Greek Beef Souvlaki Recipe with Tzatziki Sauce.  

• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp each Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 bay leaves

• 2 1/2 lb grass fed/finished stew meat

Pita Fixings

• Greek pita bread
• Tzatziki Sauce 
• Sliced tomato, cucumber, onions, and Kalamata olives

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Prepare the marinade. In the bowl of a small food processor, add garlic, oregano, rosemary, paprika, salt, pepper, olive oil, white wine, and lemon juice (do NOT add the dried bay leaves yet). Pulse until well combined.
2. Place beef in a large bowl and add bay leaves. Top with marinade. Toss to combine, making sure beef is well-coated with marinade. cover tightly and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight 
3. Soak 10 to 12 wooden skewers in water for 30 to 45 minutes or so. 
4. When ready, thread marinated beef pieces through the prepared skewers.
5. Prepare outdoor grill (or griddle). Brush grates with a little oil and heat over medium-high heat. Place beef skewers on grill (or cook in batches on griddle) until well browned and internal temperature registers 155° on instant read thermometer. Be sure to turn skewers evenly to cook on all sides, about 5 minutes total. (Adjust temperature of grill if necessary). While grilling, brush lightly with the marinade (then discard any left marinade).
6. Transfer beef to serving platter and let rest for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, briefly grill pitas and keep warm.
7. Assemble grilled beef souvlaki pitas. First, spread Tzatziki sauce on pita, add beef pieces (take them off skewers first, of course) then add veggies and olives.
8. Enjoy!

We love to hear from you and share your favorite recipes!

We are happy to be back to our regular newsletter schedule. We hope you enjoy this month's recipe.  We thought you would also enjoy a more recent photo of the ranch with the recovery of the land against the burn.  We are very fortunate that our entire operation is on private land so we have released the cattle on to the burned area.  Having them on the burn breaks up the charred soil - think of adobe - which cannot allow water to penetrate.  The cattle then fertilize the soil and help the regrowth.  Unfortunately the ranchers who lease the state and federal land are not as fortunate and were ordered to remove all their cattle off the burn. This is exactly the opposite of what the land needs to recover and means the floods will continue for a longer period than necessary. 

We are pleased to announce that there were 68 raffle tickets sold by August 31 and the drawing was held on September 1.  Wilma Rohrhofer of Globe was the winner and we will be delivering her beef on Sunday.  Thank you Tori and John for the beef donation as you moved.  A check for $1,360 will be delivered to the Gila County Cattle Growers Association to benefit the ranchers affected by the fires and floods.   Gryphon Ranch is one of few ranches still operating currently in the burn area.  We are very proud that we have been able to fulfill all our commitments to customers through fire and flood.  

Above is a picture of some of the dirt work we have been doing to keep the barn and corrals safe as we face continued floods.  The last floods on August 18 sent a wave of water about 14 feet high through the ranch and damaged the corrals yet again.   The fork in the tree pictured below is 15 feet from the bottom of the wash which is immediately next to the tree. Our target is that we will reopen for tours in October. 

Beef update

We are sold out for beef for 2021 and currently scheduling January and February 2022.  We are very pleased that we have been able to secure some purebred pasture raised Angus from a single rancher in Klondyke.   Purebred Angus are quite rare in this area of Arizona and this breeder does a wonderful job with them. He is in his 70's and we really like how he treats his animals and the quality of the beef.  However we need to let these boys grow up.  Highland continue to be sold out until summer 2023.  We are exploring the possibility of bringing in some additional Highland steers and this will depend on the overall ranch recovery.  Please let us know your needs and we can also put you on a wait list.  We thank everyone for your continued support.