Lebanese Lamb Pizza

 My modern take on Lebanese food consists of what is probably my favourite fast food – pizza!  The name for these pizzas in Lebanese is “lahembajin” which means “meat on dough”.  Hmmm… what was I saying just last week about the wonderful poetic names for food in the Middle East?  Never mind the pragmatic name though, this Lebanese Lamb pizza is delicious!

This Lebanese Lamb Pizza has some differences to the traditional Italian pizza. 

First, the base is either pita or, to be more authentic Lebanese flatbread. There is also no cheese although you can top it with a dollop of labne just before serving. 

The meat to base ratio is much higher than your typical Italian pizza, making the Lebanese Lamb Pizza more like a Meatzza! 

The topping is minced lamb cooked with pomegranate molasses, onions and spices like cinnamon and allspice. Once cooked, the pizza is topped with toasted pine nuts, labne, herbs, chilli and another hit of pomegranate molasses.  My recipe was a slight variation in the one below from the book Arabesque by Greg and Lucy Malouf.

My variations to their Lebanese Lamb were:

• To use pita bread as my pizza base
• I topped my pizza with labne (made by straining a dollop of yoghurt for about an hour)
• I garnished my pizza with  fresh coriander and chilli and another drizzle of  pomegranate molasses

Now, please excuse me, I have more eating to do!

Have a wonderful week!