Turkish "Pizza"

Man, was I in a bad mood last night.  We were taking down Christmas decorations and I was taking turns fighting with all three of my kids while my husband took a leisurely shower right before I needed to start dinner.  Now, this is not the best time of day in our house anyway - dinner preparations typically consist of my youngest child clinging to my leg, cry-screaming, while I try to chop, cook and plate food as fast as I possibly can.  (As a professionally trained chef, this is usually pretty fast, but it is still hard to do with a toddler making his unhappiness VERY loudly known.) Add the normal level of stress to my clutter-triggered OCD and late yesterday afternoon, our house and, more specifically, my kitchen and living room was not a very fun place to be.

Dinner last night was scheduled to be Turkish pizza (or pide, perhaps...I am not exactly sure).  The idea came from my husband randomly stumbling on a blog (http://mykitchenmoovement.squarespace.com/), when googling "squid ink" of all things.  (That one is another story.)  Anyway, this blog (complete with really amazing food photography) is apparently written by a man in Australia, who penned a series on what he cooked and fed himself and his child for a few days while his wife was away from home.  My husband thought most of it was pretty funny and found quite a few recipe ideas that he thought would be super tasty.  One of these recipes was this one for Turkish pizza: http://mykitchenmoovement.squarespace.com/recipes/2010/4/19/wife-away-day-4-pide-lahmajun.html.  I looked it over and, as is my way, took the basic idea and made it my own.

Pictured above is what I ultimately came up with.  I started by slicing a large yellow onion and sauteing it in olive oil until it began to brown nicely.  I then crumbled in a pound of ground lamb that I bought at my regular grocery store (though I have found really wonderful, locally sourced ground lamb at a nearby farmer's market as well).  I happened to have a Turkish seasoning blend (basically coriander, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne, oregano and paprika maybe?) that I got some time ago as a sample from my favorite spice company, so I added a liberal sprinkle of that when I had all of the meat spread out in the pan.  I cooked the meat and onions together until the meat was browned and the onions were well softened (almost confitted - the rendered lamb fat worked really well to finish cooking the onion slices).  I added two cloves of garlic that I had finely chopped and cooked for about 30 more seconds.  I turned the heat off and added four Roma tomatoes that I had stemmed, seeded and chopped.  (Also, just FYI - I season as I add food, so with each additional ingredient, I add a pinch of kosher salt and usually a twist of freshly ground black pepper.  I recommend cooking this way - flavors are enhanced and create a much more evenly seasoned final dish.)

As you can see, this little mixture was served in a crust of sorts.  I meant, before my no-good, very-bad mood set in, to make a standard pizza dough; I however, ran out of time and found a very easy recipe for an yeast-free dough online, which, again, I modified based on what I had on hand.  My recipe turned out as: 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2/3 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder.  I mixed the dry ingredients in my standing mixer and, with the motor running, added the oil and water to form a shaggy and kind of sticky dough.  This I took out of the mixer, kneaded it a few times and split it in half to roll out two very thin, 13-inch or so oblong (read: "rustic") circles.  I placed each on a sheet of parchment paper and then on a baking sheet.

On each circle of dough, I heaped a large handful of organic baby spinach and then covered this offensive (to my younger daughter) vegetable with the lamb, onion and tomato mixture.  On one of the "pizzas", I added a seeded and thinly sliced jalapeno pepper, then I folded over the edges of each dough circle to form a kind of tart.  I placed both in a preheated 425 degree oven and baked them for about 30 minutes.  While they were baking, I made a sauce to serve with the "pizzas" - a little bit of Greek yogurt, a squeeze of lemon juice, pinches of sea salt and ground coriander, with a little bit of water to thin it out.

The Turkish pizzas came out of the oven with a lightly golden brown crust flavored with the mingling juices of the tomatoes, lamb and spinach.  The tiny pieces of lamb nearer to the top of the "pizza" were a crispy, deep mahogany color and just so very delicious.  The lamb itself was tender, the veggies were infused with a warm, exotic spice and the jalapenos added a tasty punch of heat to a very savory dish.  The yogurt sauce cooled that heat without completely overpowering it and added a tang that cut through the fat of the lamb and the flaky crust surrounding it.  Man, was it good!  It was filling without being heavy and was "pizza" in a new and unique presentation.  Also...man, did it get rid of my bad mood!  Seriously, that is what good food can do for you - it just makes you feel better, body and soul.  Anyway, this one is definitely a repeat for us - the kids all ate it and my younger daughter even choked down her spinach without *too much* complaining.  That is a win in my house!  Until next time...