Minted lamb pitas with red onion and tomato salad - by Benjamin Jackson
This recipe has Greek flavors in abundance. Marinating any meat in yogurt makes it very tender, the longer it is left marinating before cooking, the better.
Ingredients
- 325 lamb escalope’s or steaks, fat trimmed off
- 200g chopped plum tomatoes
- 1 small red onion, thinly sliced into rings
- 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 wholemeal pita breads
- lemon wedges, to serve
For the marinade
- 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
- mint leaves for the salad
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- sea salt and ground black pepper
- a squeeze of lemon juice, a little extra for the lamb
Cooking instructions
First you need to make the marinade. Mix together the yogurt, garlic, chopped mint, lemon juice and cumin in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Put the lamb steaks on a plate and smother each of them with the marinade. Cover and leave in a cool place to marinate for a few minutes.
While the lamb is busy marinating, mix together the tomatoes, red onion, mint sprigs, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and add salt and pepper to taste.
Take the lamb out of the marinade. Take a heavy based grill pan or griddle and brush it with the remaining oil, place on the heat until it starts to smoke. Cook the lamb for about 3 minutes on each side.
Take the pita breads and briefly place them under running water, the put them in the toaster or under a hot grill for a few minutes. This will make sure that they puff up but not become brown and crisp. Sprinkle the cooked lamb with a squeeze of lemon juice and slice thickly. Split the pita breads open and fill with the tomato salad and slices of lamb.
As a variety, the marinade also works well with chicken fillets that have been slightly beaten flat before marinating.
