A Middle-Eastern inspired pizza for dinner tonight. It starts off just like every other pizza, with a basic dough. Although, instead of a variety of toppings finished off with melting cheese, this has a rich spiced lamb mince drizzled with olive oil, yoghurt and lemon juice.
Place a heavy tray near the bottom of the oven and preheat to 230°C.
Finely dice some celery, carrot and onion. Soften the vegetables in a pan with a little olive oil. When the onion is translucent sprinkle in a teaspoon (or so) of coriander, cumin, thyme and smoked paprika, add dried chilli flakes (as much or as little as you like). Cook until aromatic. Add about 500 grams of minced lamb, cook until brown. Finally add a jar (500 ml) of passata (or whiz up a can of tomatoes), cook until almost dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Set the meat aside to cool down.
Take a ball of dough and evenly roll out in to a thin round. Place the rolled out dough on a lined tray. Spread out a layer of cooled lamb mixture on the rolled out dough. Slide the pizza on to the hot tray in the oven.
Cook for about 6 minutes, it should be puffed up and brown around the edges, if unsure lift an edge to check if it's cooked underneath.
Remove the cooked pizza from the oven and sprinkle with some chopped parsley, a swirl of yoghurt, a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.
I find the best way to eat this is fold it in half, pick it up and munch away, it's even better if you stuff a bit of herb salad in the middle.
