The Best Beef Dish You've Never Made...
Happy Thursday, friends! It’s officially Fall, and that means the leaves are turning, the air is brisk in the morning and evening, and it’s time to start cozying up to our favorite cool-weather spices and dishes!
This week we are excited to partner with Schweid & Sons, a family-owned-and-operated high-quality ground beef purveyor since 1978. We’ve been fans of their award-winning fresh burger patty blends for years, so we were incredibly thrilled to partner with them on this week’s issue. Like all things here at W4D, if we don’t love it, we don’t promote it. So trust us when we say this is some of the very best ground beef you can buy!
ARAYES (aka Grilled Crispy Beef Pitas)
AU: Welp. I’ve got another bee in my bonnet. I cannot stop cooking these addictive and way-too-easy-to-make Arayes. If you haven’t heard of arayes before, they are meat-stuffed crispy pitas that hail from Lebanon and the surrounding area. Sometimes they split the pita in half like a disc (or like a pita “quesadilla”), but I prefer the arayes that are stuffed into the natural pocket that forms on pita bread in the oven.
EK: Every time you made them, I felt a pang of envy, but then you gave me the recipe and now I can make them anytime the craving hits!
AU: Typically, the meat mixture is loaded with onions, cilantro, garlic, and more… but I streamlined my version to let the beef speak for itself, and instead opted for a simple shawarma-style spice blend that you can make a batch of and put on everything from beef and lamb to a brunch shakshuka.
AU: When you look at the amounts in the spice blend recipe, you may think to yourself, “Whoa, that’s a lot of cardamom!”, but don’t worry—it all works beautifully, especially when paired with rich meats like beef and lamb.
EK: Even for a cardamon lover like me, I thought it was going to be too much, but it is just right! This is a magical rub because the amount of warm “sweet” spices look like they will not work with savory beef, but the combination of the cardamon, allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon with the sumac is actually subtle when mixed with the rich beefy ground meat.
AU: Once you’ve made your shawarma spice blend, you can move onto the beef filling. All I do is grate two garlic cloves (you can add more, if you’re so inclined) into two pounds of ground beef. This week, we’re using the Schweid & Sons Butcher’s Blend, which is made with cuts of premium chuck, round, and sirloin. Hint: it also is the perfect blend for a bomb burger!! After the garlic, I add one third of a cup(ish) of finely chopped fresh cilantro, or parsley, or a combo of both. Then I add two teaspoons of the shawarma spice blend, some kosher salt, and ground black pepper. That’s it! I like to gently mix everything together—trying not to compact the ground meat too much—and let it sit while I preheat the grill.
AU: An optional step, but worth it in my opinion, is making a tahini-yogurt dipping sauce. All you do is whisk together some yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, and more grated garlic. If the tahini seizes (sometimes it do be seizing!), just add a tablespoon of water at a time and keep whisking until you’ve reached your desired consistency. I like my mine a little runnier, but if you like it thicc, go off sis!
EK: Sorry, Anthony, I disagree. I don’t think the sauce is optional! In general, I am not too saucy :) but this is the kind of sauce that I like! It is both tart, and full flavored with a creamy texture that cuts through the richness of the beef and compliments the spices without covering them up.
AU: Now it’s time to stuff our pitas. I use a third pound of meat in each pita pocket (six total), but if you think that’s too much, by all means, stuff with your heart. The only tricky part about getting the meat mixture into the pita pocket is gently opening the inside of the pita with your finger first, taking care not to rip the pita.
Then, I typically divide the meat into portions in the bowl, so I can eyeball even amounts for each pita pocket. Gently pat the portion of ground beef into a oblong ball that would fit inside your pita. Insert the meat into the pocket, gently using your fingers to make sure it reaches the back of the pita (without tearing it!).
EK: I like to make a log-shape out of each portion so that it doesn’t take much to “stuff” the pita. Be gentle, but don’t worry if you get a crack or two. The natural pocket on one of my pita breads was very thin on the top and thick on the bottom, so it did crack a little but they still tasted fantastic!
AU: You can assemble and refrigerate the arayes up to an hour or two in advance of grilling them. When it’s time to grill, preheat your grill and clean the grates. Preheat with all your burners on high and the lid closed. When you are ready to grill, you will turn the burners down to medium low and turn the burners in the center off. The grill will still be very hot but you won’t have any direct heat.
EK: Then set your grill up for both direct and indirect cooking (aka “the combo method”) by turning one of your burners to medium, and the others to the lowest setting (or OFF if your lowest grill setting isn’t very low).
EK: Just before grilling, coat the assembled arayes with a little olive oil (or whatever oil you prefer), coating both the exposed meat and the pita. Place the arayes with the meat-side down over the burner that’s on medium heat. Cook meat-side down until the meat releases from the grates—about 2 minutes or until it is well marked and releases easily.
AU: Then you’re going to flip the arayes on their sides continuing to cook only on the indirect part of the grill. Put the lid down and continue cooking for about a minute until the pita becomes crispy, and well-marked on the first side. This only takes about 1 minute. Again, don’t worry if the pita lifts a little, it will come back down.
EK: Turn the arayes and put the lid down. Continue cooking on the final side for 5-6 minutes over indirect heat. If your grill has a temperature gauge, it should read about 450ºF. This should be long enough to cook the meat all the way through. Remove arayes from the grill onto a clean platter and get ready to have a tastebud dance party!
AU: Remember, if you get flare ups, and the pita becomes a little charred in places, that’s okay! I burnt some to a crisp when developing this recipe, and somehow, the arayes still tasted amazing!
EK: I love a little extra char! It gives this dish character. The thing I love about this recipe is that it is quite easy to make, but when you are eating it, the experience is so far away from any other ground-meat dish that you feel transported and it feels like a special occasion!
AU: Let the finished arayes rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. They will be fragrant, crispy, and oh-so-juicy inside! I like to serve mine with a shirazi-inspired salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, parsley, mint, lemon juice and olive oil. It’s a nice, bright salad to cut through the rich, warmly-spiced meat. And Elizabeth, can we talk about THE MEAT?!?
EK: The meat is amazing! It is like having a world-class butcher in your neighborhood. As you know, once I discovered the Schweid & Sons burgers, I stopped making my own. Now that they have these convenient 1-pound packages I can’t wait to use it for all my favorites like my EAK’s Bowl of Red Texas Style Chili.
AU: I agree! And I cannot WAIT to make your chili recipe with this ground beef. Even if you just want to make the beef mixture as a burger, this would be a fab new flavor twist on a backyard burger.
These Arayes are absolutely incredible…I want Anthony to make them all the time!