This past summer in Greece i didn’t get a chance to go to Istanbul but memories from last year are still vivid: people everywhere, a mix of modern and traditional as Istanbul is a city over 20 million that straddles both Europe and Asia, the smells of street vendors hawking their food, the restaurants for the everyday man with ornate murals on the wall depicting Ottoman historical events and the traffic that only seems to ebb when the city finally goes to sleep in the wee hours.

Istanbul is easy for me to reach from Greece as my homebase is Thessaloniki/Halkidiki, which is about 10 hours away by road and even closer if taking a plane. I go to Istanbul (Constantinople still for Greeks) for many reasons: the city belongs to everyone and yes, Greeks are most welcome there, the people are very kind and hospitable to tourists, it’s still an affordable city, I’m in awe of large Metropolises like Istanbul and the foods, be it on the street or in restaurants never cease to amaze me.

Last year I took a ferry boat ride to Prince’s Island, just an hour away from Istanbul and spent the day roaming the idyllic streets with the well-preserved wooden homes on streets lined with weeping willows and away from the busier tourist-lined streets. That day, breakfast was a Simit from a street vendor and a coffee and after a long day of walking, hunger pangs awoke and it would be fate that I would walk in front of a busy eatery that made Lahmacun and Pide out their brick oven.

Once again, the #1 travel rule was followed here – eat where the locals eat and this joint had benches in front crammed with Turks grabbing a quick bite for lunch – either a Lahmacun or Pide. Lahmacuns and Pide are often called Turkish pizzas: both are of a thin crust, made with fresh housemade dough and baked in brick ovens. The Lahmacun can be oval or round and the topping is usually made of a mixture of ground lamb, grated tomato, a red pepper paste, garlic, onions and peppers. The Pide is canoe shaped and the creativity in fillings/toppings is much more varied and deserving of another blog post or two.

After having this delicious twist on pizza I found myself craving Lahamacun here in Toronto and when I feel like grabbing a bite when out doing errands, I head to Mr. Pide for my Lahmacun and Pide fix. Other times, I make my own dough, roll it out to make a thin base then spread on the ground lamb mixture and massage it into the dough with my fingers. Much like homemade pizza, having a pizza stone pre-heating in your oven and forming the pizza dough on a peel will reward you with best results.

You could use ground beef here but you must look for Biber salcasi (pepper paste) which can be found at Turkish grocers. The Lahmacun topping is easily concocted using a food processor and simply whizzing the ground meat, onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes, peppers and the Biber salcasi. If you can’t find the “Biber”, a roasted red pepper should do the trick.

Less is more when it comes to Lahmacun so you should resist temptation to spread lots of the topping on the dough. This dough bakes very quickly and therefore you want the topping to cook in the same amount of time. Garnishes on Lahmacun range from salad greens to chopped onions, peppers and tomatoes, sides of peppers (pickled or hot) and fresh parsley are the usual and a wedge of lemon is ever-present for those wanting a little lemon-squeezer.

Turkish Lahmacun

(will feed 4)

1/2 of  pizza dough recipe

Ground Lamb Topping

1/2lb. of ground lamb (or beef)

1/2 green bell pepper

1 medium red onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp. red pepper paste

1 medium tomato, peeled/concasse

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. chilli flakes

1 tsp. ground allspice

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil

1. Roughly chop all your vegetables and red pepper paste – place in the food processor and pulse into a coarse paste (vegetables should still be visible. Now add the ground lamb, some salt, black pepper, allspice, oregano and some olive oil and pulse until amalgamated. Fry off a piece of the mixture to taste then adjust seasonings, reserve.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 450F with your pizza stone set to the middle rack. Punch your  dough and squeeze out balls of dough out of your palm and place on your well-floured pizza peel. Stretch and roll out into a long oval shape and ensure the dough is thin. Carefully lift the dough up and sprinkle some cornmeal underneath so that the dough will slide off your peel and into your oven. You’ll have to bake your Lahmacuns in batches so try and fit two on your peel.
3. Take a small handle of the topping in your hands and spread it with your fingers, massaging it into the dough and getting as near to the edges as possible. Slide the Lahmacuns into your pre-heated oven for 7-8 minutes or until crust is just browned. Remove from the oven and serve with side garnishes of parsley, pickled hot peppers, fresh tomatoes, onions, lemon wedges (all nibbled on with Lahmacun).
4. Repeat making Lahmacuns and consider these other garnishes to top your Lacmacuns when they come out of the oven:

• a mixture of dice red & green peppers, tomatoes & onions
• top with Tzatziki or strained Greek yogurt

* Lahmacun are also made by Armenians, Lebanese and enjoyed throughout the Middle-East. My version of Lahmacun is inspired by my visits to Istanbul.