I Arais With The Sun
Grilled Pita Sandwich with Spiced Ground Lamb and Potatoes
SOMETIMES IT HAPPENS THAT QUICKLY.
There I was early this morning (5 a.m.) catching up on a few episodes of The Layover starring Anthony Bourdain, and in the middle of the recent Sao Paulo episode he recommended an indigenous sandwich of ground sirloin with onions and parsley between two pita halves and flat-top grilled. The arais is a Brazilian sandwich with Middle Eastern roots, and became so popular at Carlinhos Restaurante—the place in southeast Sao Paulo that created it—that the owners had it copyrighted.
I don't have a restaurant where I would have to worry about culinary infringement, so by 7 a.m. I was already at my local Fairway supermarket picking up ingredients to make my own version of the arais, choosing to use instead ground lamb. I folded finely diced onions and chopped parsley into the ground lamb, and also added diced potato, chopped cilantro, garlic powder, cumin, nutmeg, chili powder, hot paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Splitting the pita bread was the most difficult and tedious of all the prep, but once I had two clean, whole pita halves, I spread just a thin layer of the lamb mixture on one half, top it with the other half, and set in on a medium hot grill with just a little oil.
It only takes about three minutes on each side for the lamb mixture to cook through while giving a toasty crisp to the pita shells. And once on a plate and quartered, each piece emanates with wonderful aromatics, and provides layers of delightful flavors that waft from the the tip to the back of the tongue, starting with a tease of sweetness from the onions, nutmeg and lemon, getting heady through the nose from the chili powder and cumin, getting slightly bitter and floral notes from the parsley and cilantro, and finishing with a tasty "bear hug" of kicky heat.
I still have so much of the mixture left still that I look very forward to making this my morning ritual meal for the remainder of the week that I should last for. Next time maybe with an egg. And at least until another meal from another food/travel show inspires me.
Bun Apple Tea!
KAC
Grilled Pita Sandwich with Spiced Ground Lamb and Potatoes
