Lamb Pizza with Peppers and Arugula

Last week, I received a generous package from the Tri Lamb Group, a collaborative initiative of lamb producer organizations from the U.S., New Zealand and Australia, which focuses on educating Americans about lamb.  They have launched a "Lean on Lamb" supper club series to help educate Americans about lamb and the Tri Lamb Group sent me a package to have my own supper club this past weekend!

I got all of the ingredients to make a super easy recipe for Lamb Pizza with Peppers and Arugula.  While I eat lamb on occasion and make homemade pizza regularly, I have never cooked with lamb at home or eaten lamb on a pizza.  Thus, this was definitely a new experience for me on a few different levels.

First, I gathered my ingredients:

• 1 package pre-made whole grain pizza dough (about 1-pound), thawed if frozen
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 1 medium shallot, chopped,
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup sliced pepperoncini peppers
• 3/4 cup goat cheese crumbles
• 2 cups (about 2 ounces) arugula

I turned on my oven to 450 degrees.  I brushed a rimmed baking sheet with one teaspoon of olive oil with a pastry brush.  Bret spread the dough over the length of the baking sheet and pushed the dough to the edge of the pan.  I put the pizza dough in the oven to bake for five minutes, took it out of the oven and then set it aside.

While the pizza dough was baking, I got the rest of the ingredients ready.  I warmed up a tablespoon of olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  I added the lamb, shallot, garlic, tomato paste, oregano, salt and pepper to the skillet and cooked until the lamb was completely browned.

I then brush the par-baked pizza crust with a teaspoon of olive oil.  I evenly topped the pizza with the cooked lamb mixture, pepperoncini and crumbled goat cheese.

The pizza baked for about fifteen minutes until the cheese was slightly melted and the edges of the pizza crust were golden brown. 

Bret tossed the arugula with the remaining teaspoon of olive oil.  We topped the pizza with the dressed arugula and the pizza was ready for serving!

The lamb pizza was served with a side salad of arugula, goat cheese, toasted walnuts and homemade vinaigrette.

I also served a supper bright Mediterranean orzo salad filled with cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, red onion, black olives and spinach. 

And no party is complete without wine.  This was the first bottle of many that evening!

I would say that my first time cooking with lamb was definitely a success!  In addition to providing all of the ingredients for the lamb pizza, the Tri Lamb Group helped me learn a lot about this lean protein.  For instance, I discovered that on average, a 3-ounce portion of lamb contains:

• Only 175 calories and 8 grams of fat
• Greater than 20% of the daily value of zinc, vitamin B-12, niacin, making lamb a nutrient-dense food
• 47% of your daily value of protein, essential for adequate growth, immune function, muscle maintenance and healing wounds
• 30% of your daily zinc, which contributes to growth and development and is necessary for wounds to heal
• 25% of the daily value of niacin, necessary for processing nutrients and proper enzyme function
• Approximately 40% of the daily value of vitamin B-12, which functions as a co-enzyme for many important metabolic reactions

Eating a healthy protein like lamb made us less guilty about eating more than one cupcake later that evening!

Thanks to the Tri Lamb Group for providing the complimentary ingredients for the Lamb Pizza with Peppers and Arugula!