This is a light meal, perfect for a nice summers day/night. It is also surprisingly filling! My only issue with this recipe is that all grills are different. So the require ten minutes under the grill was cut down to five, with the final five minutes being spent at the bottom of the oven to keep warm and lightly cooking. So you will need to go by smell for cooking times on this one.
What you need:
– 1 onion, chopped
– 1 fresh long red chilli, chopped
– 1 tsp minced garlic
– olive oil, for cooking
– 2 tbs tomato paste
– 1 tsp ground cumin
– 1 tsp sweet paprika
– 1 tsp ground allspice (no mixed spice and allspice are not the same!)
– 500 g minced lamb
– 2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley
– 35 g dried breadcrumbs
– finely grated zest of 2 lemons
– 1 tbs wholegrain mustard
– sea salt flakes
– 4 x 17-20 cm pita rounds
– extra virgin olive oil
– 200 g natural Greek style yoghurt
for the salad you need:
– 1 handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
– 1 small Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced
– large handful coriander leaves
– large handful mint leaves
– 1 small red onion, thinly sliced into rings
– juice of 1/2 a small lemon
– extra virgin olive oil
– sea salt flakes
What you do:
– Put onion, chilli, and garlic in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped (I have a ‘magic bullet’ and it is insanely good for things like this. I love my magic bullet!! Plug plug plug… They should give me something for that!)
– Place a wide heavy based saucepan over medium heat, add some olive oil and cook the onion paste until soft.
– Add the tomato paste, cumin, paprika, and allspice and cook for a further minute. Set aside to cool.
– In a large bowl, place the minced lamb (squish it up the sides of the bowl so there is a lot of surface area, this makes it easier for the flavors to evenly mingle), parsley, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, mustard, and some sea salt. Combine.
– Add the onion paste, and combine.
– Preheat the grill to high (Remember the grill instructions may differ from grill to grill, so use your nose to indicate if it is cooked)
– For the salad, combine the salad ingredients well. Set aside.
– Place the pita on a baking tray and brush with extra virgin olive oil. Spread one quarter of the lamb mixture evenly over each pita.
– Place under the grill until golden. (for me, this was five minutes directly under the grill, and another five lower down in the oven. Note the edges of my pita did burn a tiny bit)
– Serve with Greek yoghurt, and salad.
Shasa's Noms 