Easy Lamb Pie

One of my favourite recipes that I learned from my mum is to simple add raw spiced meat onto bread, be it a rustic spread out dough, already baked flatbread, or puffy pita, like the greek kind and I've been making these more and more because it's kind of a two step recipe with two ingredients and who doesn't love that!

You might have seen these mini pitas in early 2013 when I made these while my windows were being installed, I did a video on it too.
On busy weeknights I do a lot of flat open faced pitas where I put the spiced (its' much better with onion I think!) ground lamb or beef onto a pita and bake until the meat is done and the juices have soaked the bread beneath, it is so good!

This is a rough recipe to make your lamb "sausage" or spiced ground meat, it's better if you let it marinade in the fridge for at least a day

Raw ground lamb

Finely minced onion and garlic

Salt & Black pepper

Chopped mint

Lemon zest

Lemon juice

Arabic 7 spice (optional) 

Sumaq (optional) 

Focaccia breads

Cut the breads horizontally, either all the way through or leaving one side attached slightly

With a spoon stuff the raw ground spiced lamb into the bread and spread it out, keep it a nice even layer but be generous because meats shrink as they get cooked. 

Wrap the sandwiches in parchment lined foil and bake on 400 on the top shelf of the oven until the meat is done, you may need to flip them so one side of the bread doesn't get too crispy. 

There is enough fat in the lamb that you dont need any oil, if you're using beef then you may need some olive oil. 

The objective is just to get the meat cooked and the bread to stay soft.  

Remove from the oven and serve with a salad! 

Enjoy!

Sheppard's pie (lamb)

Sheppards Pie

Super basic recipe

- 1 lb ground lamb

- Salt + black pepper
-1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 

- 1 tbsp oil

In a large pan or pot add the oil and heat to medium high.  Brown the lamb moving it around constantly with a wooden spoon until it's done.

Add seasoning, salt, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.


Use leftover mashed potatoes to top the casserole and broil until the top is golden brown. 

If you're going to make the  potato part of the recipe then peel and roughly chop 8 medium potatoes and add to a large pot of cold salted water.  Cook on medium high, uncovered (or it'll overflow!) until potatoes are tender. Strain water.

Heat about 1/2 cup milk in the microwave.

Add strained potatoes back to the pot and over medium heat begin to mash them using a whisk, potato masher or fork. Move them around to "Dry" up a bit on the heat ... Add the hot milk and 2 tbsp butter.  Mix until creamy.

Now layer over the ground lamb in the casserole dish and broil. 

Crispy mini lamb pita bites

Crispy mini lamb pita bites with herbaceous yogurt sauce

- 1 lb ground lamb

- 1 or 2 packages mini pitas (whole wheat or white) 

- 1 egg

- 1 bunch parsley

- 1 bunch cilantro

- 1/4 red or white onion, finely diced

- 4 garlic cloves, grated or microphlaned 

- Salt & black pepper

- 1 tsp dry mint

- 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

- 2 tsp pomegranate molasses

- Juice of half a small lime or 1 tbsp lemon juice + zest if you desire

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tsp sumac (totally optional)

- Mix all of the above, set aside to marinade.

You will also need some oil for pan frying later, olive oil and a plane oil (about a few tbsp of each)

Meanwhile for sauce: 

- 1 1/2 cups plain bulkan yogurt

- 1 large bunch dill, finely chopped

- 1 clove garlic, grated

- 1 bunch cilantro (about 2 tbsp chopped)

- 1 bunch of chives, chopped

- 1/2 tsp dry mint or 1 bunch fresh mint 

Dressing:

Salt & black pepper

- Lemon or lime juice

- 1/2 tbsp vinegar or juice from pickle jar.

Blend the above together and let it sit in fridge and just before serving season with salt and add lemon/vinegar mixture.

For meatballs, prepare pitas by gently slicing the side open (if they crumble a little it's ok, it's easier to make this recipe with fresh pitas but I had bought mine in advance and threw them in the freezer and after thawing they crumbled a bit on me)

Take a handful of meat about the size of a golf ball and stuff your pitas by placing the ball of meat inside and then once the pita flap is closed just press lightly to create a sort of "burger"

Set aside and when ready to fry heat some olive oil along with a plain oil in a skillet on medium, it's better to get the olive oil really hot to sear the outside and then lower it to finish cooking the lamb inside.  I hope my video will better describe this part as it's a bit tricky but you should be able to achieve a nice crispy outter layer. 

Serve warm and fresh with seasoned yogurt sauce and enjoy!

It seems in this house there is no head chef, there is only a headless one because for some reason it seems I'm always adjusting my camera angle wrong and chopping my head off, haha.  I really need to pay more attention to this.  It wont happen again, I promise.  Twice is just enough!

Today was a super busy day with having my new windows installed throughout most of the house.  It did not help either that I haven't had a good night's sleep because one of my kitties got into the habit of chewing at my foot. ( excuse my tired appearance in the video and you'll see me glancing over to check on the guys coming in and out from time to time as they work)

This recipe was so easy and yummy, it's a keeper and will be making it again, especially if I can find those little pitas on sale again (they're usually so pricey!)

The kitties could not wait for the next morning to inspect the new windows that were installed.  They're just LOVING it!