Pomegranate beef pitas
Ten minutes of assembly, then the oven. The syrup at the end is what makes it.
At a Glance
Story
Pomegranate molasses is a souring agent, not a sweetener, whatever the syrup in the name suggests. It is boiled-down juice, so it carries the tartness of a whole pomegranate in a spoonful, and it lands on a rich baked tray the way a squeeze of lemon does on fish. Leave it out and the dish is heavy in a way you will notice without being able to name.
Ingredients
- 10 oz ground beef
- 3 tbsp roasted red pepper pestojarred is fine
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 4 oz grape tomatoes
- 1 oz roasted red pepperssliced
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 pocketless pitas or flatbreads
- 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
- ¼ cup labneh
- 1 ½ oz fetacrumbled
- dill frondstorn, to finish
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
The tray does everything. Get it in the oven and the only job left is warming bread.
- Oven to 450°F. In a small roasting tray, stir the red pepper pesto, tomato paste, sliced peppers, tomatoes and as much of the pepper flakes as you want. Season and combine properly.
- Tear the beef into bite-size pieces and lay them over the top in one layer. Season. Bake uncovered 12 to 14 minutes, until cooked through.
- Out of the oven, stir it together, pressing the tomatoes with the back of a spoon until they burst.
- Meanwhile, stack the pitas, wrap the stack in foil and put it straight on an oven rack for 5 to 7 minutes.
- Serve the tray with the warm pitas, the labneh, the feta, a lot of dill, and the pomegranate molasses zigzagged over everything at the last second.
Do the syrup at the table if you can. It dulls into the sauce within a minute or two of sitting.
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