These Middle Eastern Smash Pitas are a delicious spin on smash burgers. Middle Eastern inspired spiced ground beef is cooked between a pite and then topped with a bright tahini sauce, and marinated red onions.
Start by making the pickled onions. Thinly slice the red onion. In a bowl stir together the olive oil, chopped parsley, coriander, lemon juice, lemon zest and vinegar. Add the thinly sliced red onion to the bowl and press down to ensure they are all submerged in the liquid. Leave to marinate for approximately 20 minutes (or ideally an hour!)
To make the tahini sauce combine all of the ingredients in a high speed blender and blend until light and fluffy, add more water if needed until the sauce is a light consistency (shouldn’t be a thick paste)
To a bowl combine all of the ingredients for the ground beef mixture and use your hands to mix it all together well.
Use scissors to cut along the seam of the pita and very gently separate the two pieces so that the pita is split into two detached circles.
Place 1 half of the pita on a cutting board inside facing up, take a handful of the meat mixture and firmly press it into the pita and spread it out into a very thin even layer (⅛ inch or thinner) all the way out to the very edge of the pita. Repeat with the other pitas until you have used up all of the meat mixture (you should make 4-6 depending on the size of the pita bread you are using)
Heat a pan on medium high heat. Spray with cooking spray. Add the pita meat side facing down and cook for 3-4 minutes until the meat cooked through and browned. Flip the pita over in the pan and and place the other half of the pita ontop of the meat. Cook for another 2 minutes until the pita is crisp. Finally flip the pita one additional time so the other side of the pita is crisp.
Take off the pan and place on a piece of parchment paper. Spread a layer of the tahini sauce in a wide strip down the middle of the pita. Add shredded romaine and cherry tomatoes on top and finally add a big spoonful of the marinated onions. Drizzle with a bit more tahini sauce and then roll the wrap together using parchment paper.