Thanks goes to our friends justin and Rebecca at Wild Soul River for sharing one of their delicious and locally sourced recipes with us.
This Lamb Pizza was inspired from when Depot ’62 in Manchester, VT used to serve Turkish pizza. justin likes this with the eggplant on the side, Rebecca likes the eggplant spread like a sauce (as described below) Play with it!
Ingredients:
- Pizza dough (this recipe has enough going on, we get one pre-made by Wild Oats)
- 1lb ground lamb Higley Hill Farm in Wilmington, VT lamb (delivered Fresh Wednesdays at Wild Soul River through Svenfish)
- 1/3 cup za’atar (justin’s blend below)
- 2 yellow onions
- 1 tablespoon Wild Soul River Fire Cider Sea Salt
- 1 medium sized Eggplant
- 2-3 tablespoons of Tahani
- Cricket Creek Feta (ordered Fresh Wednesdays at Wild Soul River from Cricket Creek – or picked up at the Farm Store)
- 1 big bunch of Parsley
- 1 lemon
justin’s za’atar blend – mix as you like:
- Dried Oregano
- Dried ground Sumac (justin harvests staghorn sumac right here in Williamstown for his)
- Dried Thyme
- Maine Sea Salt
- Toasted sesame seeds
Pizza dough (we buy ours at Wild Oats)
Stretch that dough out and par-bake it in the oven at 300F till it is just barely starting to be a nice toasty brown
First:
In a bowl mix well with your hands
1lb ground lamb Higley Hill Farm in Wilmington, VT lamb (ordered through Svenfish)
1/3 cup za’atar (justin’s za’atar blend described above)
1 tablespoon Wild Soul River Fire Cider Sea Salt (or just salt)
Set aside and do the other parts, just cause you want the lamb to be nearly room temp when you cook it
Next in skillet:
1 chopped onion in oil/fat of your choice, justin uses home-rendered lard
Once onion is glistening toss in 1 medium-sized eggplant diced up
Add some salt to taste (you can add a bit of za’atar to this as well if you want)
When eggplant is about 1/2 way cooked, squeeze some lemon juice on it
Once eggplant is well cooked, put it in a food processor
Add 2-3 tablespoons of Tahani
Blend on high till it is well-blended
Finally in skillet:
1 chopped onion in oil/fat of your choice, justin uses home-rendered lard
Once onion is glistening toss in the lamb za’taar mixture
Cook till done
Put it all together:
Rebecca’s favorite way: Spread out eggplant mixture on the par-baked crust (you will only use about 1/2 of the eggplant. Save the rest as a nice dip for pita chips!)
justin likes to skip the eggplant on the pizza and just use the eggplant as a dip
Spread the cooked lamb on top
Top with Cricket Creek Feta to taste (we like a lot!)
Back into the 300F oven till the feta starts to brown in a couple of spots
Pull it out of the oven and top it with a copious amount of chopped parsley and squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over it
To be fancy you can brush the crust with EVOO and sprinkle a bit of sea salt on the crust
ENJOY!!!!