Liver: Breakfast of Champions

One of my favorite Syrian dishes was always lachmaajen, a personal pizza topped with tangy, pomegranate-infused lamb and sprinkled with pine nuts. Hot out of the oven, the bottom just a tiny bit greasy and crunchy…..need I go on? Not surprisingly, a similar dish is street food in Turkey. The Turkish version passes up the meat and pine nuts for tomato and a very spicy pepper. But both use the pomegranate (see the post on pomegranate molasses — i told you, it’s everywhere). But a liver pizza? Don’t knock it. Our Turkish chef made lavosh on site over a wood fire, then filled it with lamb liver kebob and a scallion salad that crackled when he rolled it up. Crunchy on the outside, soft and supple on the inside. This, apparently is what Turkish farmers eat for breakfast during the olive harvest when they need lots of energy in the fields. Move over Wheaties.