Individual Spinach Pies (Fatayah) Bet ya can't eat just one!

If you love spinach, these little delectables will become one of your favorite foods as a snack or a main course!
Use the same dough that is in the meat pie recipe.

Filling:
6 cups fresh baby spinach (this will be about three cup after washing)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup lemon juice
olive oil
salt
Lebanese pepper (or a nice Jamaican allspice)

Dough:
1 package dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbs. olive oil
3 cups of flour

Combine yeast, water, and sugar. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. Add flour slowly, about a half cup at a time, until you have a nice dough consistency. Depending on the weather, believe it or not, you may have to add a teaspoon of water to get the consistency right.  Separate into balls a little larger than golf balls. OK, there's the dough.

OR:
1 bag of pizza dough, rolled out and cut into 4" circles


Put the spinach in a bowl and cover well with water and salt. Let this sit for about 1/2 hour. The leaves will wilt..they are supposed to.

Next, take the spinach leaves after they have soaked, and squeeze them out in a colander. Then squeeze them out again. And then again. OK you can stop squeezing now. The point is, you want all the excess moisture out.
Mix the rest of the ingredients together then add to the spinach and mix well.

On 4 inch circles of dough, spoon about 2 tablespoons of spinach mixture into the middle. Fold up the edges and pinch them together to make a triangle. It starts like this:

Then fold in the third side.

Place these on a non stick baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Spray with olive oil spray. If you don't hide these, you won't have a chance to have seconds. Trust me.

Individual Meat Pies (Sfeeha)

These little lovers can be served as a meal or as appetizers. Versions of these can be found in many cultures, however we are going to make the Lebanese version of them. You may use pre-made dough or the kind that comes in the refrigerated tubes called dinner rolls. OR you can make your own dough. It is a bread dough if you are going to make your own. OK, OK..I will include the dough recipe.

Dough:
1 package dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
2 tbs. olive oil
3 cups of flour

Combine yeast, water, and sugar. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. Add flour slowly, about a half cup at a time, until you have a nice dough consistency. Depending on the weather, believe it or not, you may have to add a teaspoon of water to get the consistency right.  Separate into balls a little larger than golf balls. OK, there's the dough. Set aside while you make the sfeeha.

Filling:

1 pound ground lamb (yes, you can use ground beef instead)
2 tomatoes, chopped small
1 medium onion, chopped very fine (processor works well)
1/4 cup pine nuts or sometimes called pignolia nuts
1 tsp. Lebanese pepper (if you can't find this, use ground Jamaican allspice)
1 tbsp. Salt
Olive oil spray

Combine all ingredients except olive oil spray and dough in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands until everything is blended evenly. Using a sautee pan on medium heat, cook until meat turns brown. This is the sfeeha mixture.

Roll the dough out flat on a floured cutting board. Put 2 tablespoons of sfeeha mixture in the middle of each one. Pinch in two sides to begin to make a triangle shape of dough around the meat. (Refer to the picture) Pinch edges together.

Place these on a non stick cookie sheet or grease a cookie sheet and place them on that. Spray with olive oil to make them look so pretty. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Watch them fly off the table!