Spinach Pies ~ Syria & Lebanon

[Twitchin Kitten]

These little triangualr shaped pies are a famous Lenten specialty of the Orthodox Chrstian communities of Syria and Lebanon. You can server them hot or cold. They are meant to be tart and lemony. The filling must not be wet or the dough will get soft and will stick to the baking sheet and tear when it is baked. For this reason it is bets to use frozen spinach, squeezed dry. Give these Meat Pies a shot too!
   
Spinach Pies
Fatayer bi Sabanikh

Ingredients:

For the filling:
2 pounds forzen leaf spinach -defrosted
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
4 tablespoons sumac
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup pine nuts  (optional)
Salt and pepper

Prepare the pie dough as described in my basic dough for pies thread.

For the filling, put the spinach in a colander and press out the water, the squeeze the leaves between your palms to get rid of any remaining liquid.

Coarsely chip the spinach adn mix in a bowl with the rest of the filling ingredients. * you can use chopped frozen spinach for this instead of chipping it up!

Punch down and knead the risen dough briefly. Divinde into 4 or 6 balls for easier handling.  Take small golf ball sized chunks and from into round balls to roll out.
When rolling out one balls keep remaining ones in wrapped in plastic to prevent drying out.

Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin and keep turning over the dought and dusting underneath with flour so thatit does not stick.

Roll out as thinly as possible (the dough is very elastic and springs back!). You should be making little 5 inch circles of dough for each pie. This should be VERY thin.

The traditional way is to take walnut sized lumps of dough, flatten them between your oiled palms and pull and stretch the dough out as thinly as you can.

To make the pies, take each dough round, lay it flat and put a tablespoon of filling in the middle. Shepe into the traditional 3 sided pyramid with a rounded base by lifting up the three sides with both hands and bringing them together over the filling. Pinch the edges together, making thin, riged joints in the shape of a 3-sided star and closing the pies.

Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and press down a little to flatten thier bases.

Bake in a preheated 450° ofen for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: I like to make a lemon juice / olive mixture and spread this onto the baking sheet with a brush. It gives the bottoms of the pies a lovely tart taste!
I've been eating these pies since I can remember and can never get enough of them!

These are MY very own spinach pies!