So, I initially bought ground lamb to make my usual, easy peasy spiced meat sauce. Then, I thought, why not do something different? Besides, I need to learn and experiment with all sorts of dishes and cuisines so I could share it with all of you! Today, I am making a kind of pizza. Not an Italian kind but Armenian and surely not for vegetarians!

Lahmajoon (Armenian Pizza)

The Ingredients

2 garlic cloves

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped

1 pound ground lamb (or ground beef)

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1.5 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

Flour tortillas

Lemon wedges, to serve

 

First, preheat the oven to 400ºF.

Next, in a food processor, chopper or Vitamix blender, pulse the garlic and onion to mince. Then, add the green bell pepper and pulse to chop. At this stage, you should have a pureed looking mixture.

Now, add the ground lamb, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, parsley, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cover and process until everything is very well chopped and mixed. The result should be wet and pasty, just like hummus.

Start with 1/4 cup of the meat mixture and spread a thin layer onto each flour tortillas all the way to the edge. Add more if needed.

Bake these ‘pizzas’ directly on the oven rack for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the meat is cooked through. Should the tortilla begin to inflate in the oven, pop it with a fork from the top.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and serve on a plate with a lemon wedge on the side (or in my case, like in the photo, on the top). FYI, you may devour this whichever way you please! Cut it like you do with pizzas or like me, folded it in half like a Calzone, and just went in for a messy grind! ENJOY!!!

(Recipe from Food Network courtesy of George Duran)