Ground lamb kebabs become filling for pita rounds
Ground meat kebabs are standard fare in many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines. Usually the meat is shaped right on the skewers, then cooked over an open fire, served with rice or tucked into flatbread with crisp vegetables and savory sauces. Forming the meat into sausage shapes on metal or bamboo skewers makes them slightly fragile at first, but once the meat starts to brown, it shrinks slightly, tightens, and stays in place. The fat in the meat keeps it moist; garlic, mint, and oregano add delectable tastes.
Serve the kebabs with rice or bulgur and a chilled yogurt and cucumber sauce (called tzatziki in Greece), generous with mint. For a second meal, tuck slices of the meat inside pita with yogurt sauce and a summery cucumber-tomato salad. While these smoky tastes and crisp, cooling textures may seem new, these are dishes that cooks in distant places have been making for centuries.
Shopping list
(For lamb skewers, pita sandwiches)
2 pounds ground lamb
2 eggs
16 ounces plain Greek yogurt
4 medium tomatoes
3 cucumbers
1 small yellow onion
½ sweet onion
6 cloves garlic
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 large bunch fresh mint
Handful fresh oregano sprigs
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon maras or Aleppo pepper or ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 pita rounds (about 6 inches each)
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