Harissa lamb on a whole tub of hummus

Name: Harissa lamb on a whole tub of hummus
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 4 pita; 1 lb ground lamb; 2 tbsp harissa; 1 ½ tsp smoked paprika; 1 tsp garlic powder; ½ tsp dried oregano; 1 × 15 oz can diced tomatoes, with their juices; 1 dill, chopped; ¼ cup pistachios, toasted and chopped; 10 oz hummus (a tub is fine, but this is the place for a batch of Mark's); olive oil, salt, pepper

Hummus is not the dip here. It is the plate, swooped out wide, and everything hot lands in the middle of it.

At a Glance

Time

30 min

Adjust servings

Story

Hummus is treated as a condiment almost everywhere outside the places that invented it, where it is a base you build a meal on. The practical difference is temperature: cold hummus under hot spiced meat is the entire point, and it stops working the moment you warm the hummus to be helpful. Leave it cold and swoop it wide so there is more surface for the lamb to sit against.

Ingredients

4 pita
1 lb ground lamb
2 tbsp harissa
1 ½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp dried oregano
1 × 15 oz can diced tomatoeswith their juices
1 dillchopped
¼ cup pistachiostoasted and chopped
10 oz hummusa tub is fine, but this is the place for a batch of Mark's
olive oilsalt, pepper

Method

Adapted from Caroline Chambers, who brought it back from Shuk Ha'Carmel in Tel Aviv. The instruction that carries it is the swoop: use the back of a spoon to push the hummus up the sides of a shallow bowl so it makes a crater. A flat puddle gives you one texture and a crater gives you three.

If you are making Mark's hummus rather than opening a tub, make it first and leave it cold. It is the base of the whole plate here, not a condiment on the side of it, so it is worth the extra twenty minutes.

Heat the oven to 300°F, wrap the bread in foil and set it straight on the rack while everything else happens.
Warm oil in a large skillet on medium-high. Lamb in with 1 teaspoon of salt, the harissa, paprika, garlic powder and oregano. Break it into small crumbles and cook 8 to 10 minutes, until browned all over.
Stir in half the dill along with the tomatoes with their juices and the rest of the salt. Down to medium and cook 6 to 7 minutes, until it thickens to roughly what a bolognese looks like.
Divide the cold hummus between two low bowls and swoop it out to the sides. Lamb into the well, pistachios and the rest of the dill over the top, warm pitas alongside for scooping.