Lebanese Tostada with beef strips

I live in Texas, my kids are Texans and I love Tex-Mex food, OK?

However, I am also Lebanese and I want to enjoy one of the best mezzedishes in Lebanese cuisine, hummus with minced lamb and pine nuts. If the table has fifty mezze dishes, this  is the first one everybody  will go for! Meat is sizzling and shiny with lamb grease, the pine nuts are golden and the hummus is smooth and velvety. All the other mezze dishes can wait!

You don’t like lamb. Not a problem, use beef then!

In a tostada form,  thismezze dish becomes a meal in itself,  instead of one of fiftydishes or so.

I used beef sirloin, but my first choice would have been lamb.

Marinate the meat  a bit,  get it tender and you hit a home run.

INGREDIENTS: 4 to 6 servings

• 1 pound of top sirloin steak or your steak of choice, lamb or beef- You can also use ground lamb or beef
• yogurt for the marinade (1/2 cup)-if using ground meat, skip this step!
• lemon juice (1/4 cup), olive oil (1/3 cup) and spices for the marinade: pepper, paprika, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, thyme or anything you feel like using
• half a basket of organic cherry tomatoes (the other ones have no flavor, they are just acidic)
• half a bunch of green onions, chopped fine
• a few sprigs of parsley or any other herb of your choice
• a tub of hummus, doctored up with extra lemon juice, garlic and tahini if needed
• 3 pita breads, split and toasted

METHOD:

1. Marinate the meat in a mixture of yogurt, lemon juice and olive oil; add the spices of your choice. Let it sit for as long as you like, up to 2 days. If using ground lamb or beef, no need to worry about this step.
2. Toast the pita in a 300f oven till crisp and golden.
3. Doctor up the hummus with a dash of garlic, lemon juice and tahini the day you plan to eat it.
4. When ready, slice the meat in thin slices and pat dry; fry in a bit of olive oil for a couple of minutes on each side.
5. Plop a generous quantity of hummus on each pita bread; Place a few slices of meat in the middle; add a few cherry tomatoes, green onions and a sprinkle of parsley. Serve immediately.