Oven-Stacked Döner İskender

Method

1. Freeze the lamb and beef for 30–40 minutes until firm, then slice across the grain 2 mm thick. Grate the onion, squeeze out the juice and mix with the milk, yogurt, olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika and thyme. Toss the meat in it and marinate in the fridge for at least 4 h (up to overnight).

   Add in this stepLamb leg, thinly sliced 160 gBeef sirloin or rump, thinly sliced 160 gOnion (grated, juice only) 1Milk 4 tbspPlain yogurt (marinade) 2 tbspExtra virgin olive oil 2 tbspSalt (marinade) 1 tspBlack pepper ½ tspGround cumin ½ tspSweet paprika 1 tspDried thyme ½ tsp

2. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. In a loaf tin or small baking dish sized so the stack will be 6–8 cm tall, layer the lamb and beef slices alternately, pressing each layer down firmly with your palm so there are no gaps. Roast (oven) for 30 min, until 75 °C in the centre and browned on top.

   oven

3. While it roasts, make the sauce: melt the butter in a pan on medium heat and fry the tomato paste and pepper paste for 1 min 30 sec. Add the grated tomatoes (skins discarded), water and salt, lower to low heat and simmer for 10 min until glossy and slightly thickened.

   Add in this stepButter (sauce) 20 gTomato paste 1½ tbspTurkish mild pepper paste (biber salçası) 1 tbspRipe tomatoes (sauce, grated) 2Water 80 mlSalt (sauce) 1 pinch

   medium heat→low heat

4. Rest the roasted meat for 10 minutes, turn it out, stand it on end and shave it into very thin slices with a sharp knife, like döner. Heat a pan on high heat until smoking and crisp the shavings in 2 batches, 1 min 30 sec each, until the edges are crunchy.

   high heat

5. Cut the pide into 2–3 cm cubes. Using the same pan on medium-high heat, toast the bread with the peppers and tomatoes for 6 min, until the bread is crisp outside and the vegetables are charred in places.

   Add in this stepPide 160 gLong mild green peppers 2Tomatoes (for blistering) 2

   medium-high heat

6. Lay the bread on warm plates, moisten with 2 tablespoons of sauce, pile on the meat and spoon over more sauce. Add room-temperature yogurt on the side and the charred vegetables.

   Add in this stepThick yogurt (room temperature) 200 g

7. Heat the butter and ghee in a small pan on medium heat for 2 min, until hazelnut-brown and nutty-smelling, then turn off the heat and add the pul biber. Pour over the meat at the table so it sizzles.

   Add in this stepButter (to finish) 35 gGhee 10 gPul biber ½ tsp

   medium heat