Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Meat Pies (laham ageen)

Recipe Source: Patent, Greg.  A Baker's Odyssey.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2007 pp. 184 - 6

I made these for a recent Sunday open house.  I liked them.  I think my guests enjoyed them.  My husband really, really liked them!  What he liked was their versatility.  They were great as part of a normal sit-down dinner, but they'd be great as a quick snack, or even brought along on a picnic.  It was a little more challenging than a lot of the recipes that I prefer to post here, but it's definitely worth the effort. 

I did make a few changes to the original recipe.  The main change was exchanging turmeric for sumac.  The original called for sumac, and I love sumac.  I love sumac so much that I seem to have run out of sumac and am now sad.  I decided to use turmeric because it has a distinctly sour flavor that while not really authentic still worked with the rest of the dish. 

Meat Pies (makes 24 pies; approx. $0.42/ea.)

4 cups flour

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 pinch sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nigella seeds

1 teaspoon ground mahlab

1 teaspoon fennel seeds, ground if possible

8 tablespoons butter

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons water

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

2 pounds boneless leg of lamb

3 onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon allspice

1 1/2 teaspoons turmeric

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

Equipment:

• Large saute pan
• Baking sheets
• Colander
• Plate
• Heavy thing
• Rolling pin
• Stand mixer with the dough hook attachment
• Small saucepan
• Cookie cutter (I used a pint glass because I didn't have round plain cookie cutters at the time.  I have since rectified the situation - yay!) 

1. Melt the butter in the small saucepan.
2. Add the water.  The mixture should now be lukewarm.
3. Add a pinch of sugar and the yeast.  Set aside five minutes or so, or until frothy.
4. Combine the yeast mixture with the flour, salt, nigella, mahlab and fennel in the stand mixer bowl.  Mix on very low speed for about 2 minutes, then increase the speed very slightly (level 2 to level 3 on my mixer, which has 11 levels) and knead 5 minutes. 
5. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, then set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours.)
6. Meanwhile, make the filling.  Put the chopped onions into a colander, then top with a plate. 
7. Put something heavy (I used a 5-lb sack of sugar) on top of the plate and set aside in the sink for about 15 minutes.  This will rid the onions of some of their excess moisture.  It may seem like a silly and unnecessary step now, but believe me, it will be very important when you go to fill the pies. 
8. Dice the meat into 1/2" dice.
9. Heat the oil in the large saute pan over medium heat.
10. Add the meat to the saute pan.  Cook uncovered, stirring when you feel like it, until the meat is tender and the juices have evaporated.  The original says this should take 30 minutes; it took less time for me.
11. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat.  Cook until very tender and cover the pan for the last 15 minutes.
12. Add the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, pepper, allspice, turmeric and parsley.  Cook another 5 minutes or so, then allow to cool.
13. When the dough has risen, work in batches to roll out the dough to a thin consistency. 
14. Cut out circles of dough with the cookie cutter - the original called for a 3" cutter.  As I mentioned, I had a pint glass so that's what I used.
15. Set the dough circles aside and let rest 15 minutes before proceeding. 
16. Preheat your oven to 425.
17. Roll out each circle to a circle about 5" in diameter.  I had less success with this than suggested by the original, as you can see by the variable sizes in the photo. 
18. Fill each circle with a "scant 1/4 cup" of the filling.  Fold in half and pinch the edges closed to seal. 
19. Brush with the egg. 
20. Bake 25 minutes, rotating once. 
21. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe: Medieval Quince Preserve (Tarbib al-safarjal)

Recipe Source: al-Warraq, Ibn Sayyar.  Annals of the Caliph's Kitchens, Nawal Nasrallah trans.  Brill Press, Leiden, 2007 p. 486

First, let me apologize for the quality of the photograph.  I'm finding it very difficult to take decent pictures of jams and preserves.  The camera can't seem to decide what to focus on, and of course I can't do it manually because I'm farsighted and all you'd get would be pictures of the background.  At least you get a good idea of the color of the dish, and that's important because the colors of some of these preserves have just been breathtaking. 

So, onto the jam.  There are three ingredients.  That's it, just three.  This recipe should be an eye-opener to anyone who thinks medieval recipes are all long, complex and full of random and unnecessary spices.  You've got your quince, your honey and your water.  The preservative and antibiotic effects of honey have been known for centuries, and the author makes full use of them here.  Honey and quince also go fabulously together, a match clearly made in Heaven. 

Tarbib al-Safarjal (makes 7 8-oz jars; approx. cost per serving not available)

5 quinces, quartered and roughly chopped

5 lb honey, divided

3 cups water

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Colander
• Stockpot for the jars
• Tongs
• Boiling water canner

1. Combine the quinces, 2 lb honey and 3 cups water in the saucepan.  Bring to a boil.
2. Let the combination boil for a few minutes, scumming as you can. 
3. Drain the quinces.  Try not to cry at the thought of all that wonderful honey going down the drain.
4. Put the quinces back in the pot.  Add the remaining honey and bring to a boil.  I'd recommend doing this over medium-low heat just to avoid the possibility of scorching the honey and wrecking your saucepan. 
5. Reduce the heat and simmer the honey and quinces until the quinces are "well done."  This will take a while; the goodness of quinces is only unlocked by those with patience.  I judged them to be "well done" when they were soft enough that I would consider eating them. 
6. In the meantime, put your jars and lids and bands into the saucepan.  Fill with water and heat that water to 180 degrees.  Fill your canner with water and bring that also to 180 degrees.
7. When the quinces are ready, ladle them into the prepared jars.  Top with the lids and bands, then lower them into the boiling water canner. 
8. Process 30 minutes, then remove and allow to cool.  Label and store. 

Recipe: Fish in Tahini Sauce

Recipe Source: Ward, Susan.  Lebanese Cooking.  Hackberry Press, Dallas, 1992 p. 71 and 106

Why, yes, this was made in another attempt to make room in one of my food storage facilities, why do you ask?  In this case, I found two open and largely full jars of tahini during a recent purge of the refrigerator.  I do not need two open and largely full jars of tahini in my refrigerator.  I don't even really need one open and largely full jar of tahini in my refrigerator.  I decided that I should work on using up my open jars of tahini.  According to a book I recently picked up, sesame seeds are actually a good source of calcium, so I'm doing my body as well as my minuscule fridge a favor. 

I made this ahead of time and froze it for future eating, but we did sample it before freezing it.  The flavor is good - very good, actually.  The texture of the sauce was not so good.  I posted a taratoor sauce back in June of 2008 that would have worked better.  I'm going to give you the recipe I actually used, but I'd use the other if I were you.  I also decreased the amount of fish, since the original recipe serves 6 and there are only 2 of us and we'd already eaten something else during the day. 

Fish in Tahini Sauce (serves 2 - 3; approx. $4.80/serving)

7 garlic cloves, crushed

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

8 ounces tahini paste

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 ounces olive oil

2 large onions, thinly sliced

1 lb firm white fish fillet - I used scrod

Equipment:

• Mini-prep food processor
• Bowl
• Whisk
• Large oven-safe saute pan

1. Combine the garlic and the salt in the mini food processor and process to a paste.
2. Scrape the paste into the bowl and add the next 3 ingredients.  Whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in the saute pan over medium heat. 
4. Add the onions and soften.  Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
5. Put the fish on top of the onions.  Bake 15 minutes, covered.
6. Spoon the sauce from the bowl over the fish and onions. 
7. Bake another 25 minutes, this time uncovered. 
8. Serve.

Recipe: Chicken Barida with a Sweet and Sour Sauce

Recipe Source: al-Warraq, Ibn Sayyar.  Annals of the Caliph's Kitchens.  Nawal Nasrallah, trans.  Brill Press, Leiden, 2007 p. 163.

I did mention I'm going to be referring to this book frequently, right?  Good.  Because it's my favorite cookbook, and I've got an excuse to play with it more than is probably good for me.  When I prepare my Dark Age feast, I'm really concerned about being able to have all the dishes come out on time, as they're supposed to.  Medieval Baghdadi cuisine had whole classes of dish that were intended to be served cold or at room temperature, called bawarid.  I'm expecting that bawarid will make my life much easier.  This particular one is cited by al-Warraq as being taken from a book belonging to an Abassid Caliph who died in 847 AD. 

I did make a couple of small changes to the recipe, which I would ordinarily not do for an historical recipe unless really necessary.  I omitted additional sugar, because I felt that the mustards I had on hand were sweet enough to bring the sauce to the "sweet and sour" taste mentioned in the original.  I didn't have fresh asafetida leaves, because I have yet to find a source for fresh asafetida.  I substituted ground asafetida instead.  I combined the olive oil with the sauce because if my husband had caught me pouring that much oil directly onto the chicken he would have refused to eat it.  Finally, I substituted cilantro for the chopped rue.  Cilantro was certainly used in that time and place, and my understanding is that rue can have certain undesirable side effects and should not be fed to crowds who have not made an informed consent.  Besides, I can't find any. 

We roasted the chickens on the Big Green Egg.  This yields a moister, richer chicken than oven roasting does.  (To be honest, the Egg is the best way to cook all poultry.  I haven't found anything that quite compares to the flavor.)  But if you don't have an Egg and don't' want to / can't make the investment in one, you can roast your chickens however you see fit.  You can even feel free to use supermarket roasted chickens if need be. 

Chicken Barida with a Sweet and Sour Sauce (serves 8; approx. $3.66/serving)

2 roasted chickens

2 ounces mustard

2 ounces soy sauce

1 ounce walnuts, ground

1 teaspoon ground asafetida

2 tablespoons olive oil

Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

Approx. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment:

• Bowl
• Whisk

1. Joint and skin your roasted chickens.  Slice as much meat off the bones as you possibly can; these can be reserved for stock or just discarded.  Arrange the meat as you please on your serving platter. 
2. Combine the soy sauce, mustard, ground walnut and asafetida in the bowl.  Whisk well to combine.
3. Add the olive oil.  Whisk very well to thoroughly combine. 
4. Pour the sauce over the chicken, drenching it. 
5. Garnish with chopped cilantro and pomegranate seeds.
6. Serve at room temperature or chilled. 

Recipe: Spiced Lentils with Squash

Recipe Source: Mallos, Tess.  The Food of Morocco.  Murdoch Books, Millers Point, 2008 p. 99

I usually try to have at least one vegetarian entree on the table if I'm not sure who's coming to dinner.  My husband thinks this is silly, since we don't have (or don't know about) a lot of vegetarian friends, and for most of them vegetarianism is a choice.  We do have one friend, though, who has no choice in the matter (she can't digest meat).  What if she were to show up?  Besides, it's not as though we omnivores can't eat food without meat in it.  I'm not going to go around buying veggie burgers and pseudo-chicken patties (ick!) but there is plenty of vegetarian food out there that you'd actually want to eat - vegetarian food that is not meant to pretend to be meat.  I actually really like those kinds of dishes, and they make great sides if the vegetarians don't show up. 

This is one of those dishes.  It's really, incredibly, shockingly orange.  Orange is not my favorite color.  It is however the favorite color of my absolute favorite small child ever, Wesley, who is very sick at the moment.  Here's a really orange dish for him, then, in the hopes of a speedy recovery!

Spiced Lentils and Squash (serves 6; approx. $0.75/serving)

1 1/2 cups red lentils

3 tomatoes

1/2 peeled butternut squash, cut into chunks

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon paprika

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Equipment:

• Small saucepan
• Large saucepan or saute pan with a lid

1. Put the lentils in the saucepan and add about 4 cups of water. 
2. Bring to a boil, skim the surface then simmer over low heat 20 minutes.
3. Chop the tomatoes.  (The original recipe called for them to be grated, but I didn't have time and wasn't sure I saw the point.)
4. Heat the oil in the large saucepan. 
5. Add the onion and cook over low heat until softened. 
6. Add the garlic and cook a few seconds.
7. Add the spices.  Cook 30 seconds. 
8. Add the tomato, tomato paste, salt and black pepper to taste.
9. Add the lentils and the squash. 
10. Stir well, then cover and simmer 20 minutes or until the squash is tender. 
11. Turn out into a serving bowl, sprinkle with the parsley and cilantro, and serve. 

Recipe: Medieval Sliced Roasted Meat (Sharayih)

Recipe Source: al-Warraq, Ibn Sayyar.  Annals of the Caliph's Kitchens.  Nawal Nasrallah, trans.  Brill Press, Leiden, 2007 p. 369

I hope you like this cookbook as much as I do, because I'm going to be reaching for it often.  I'm working on a project for next fall, when I'll be cooking a feast for about 120 people.  The theme of the feast is food that pre-dates the year 1000 AD (the "Dark Ages" in Europe,) and all of the recipes fit that perfectly.  I'll be alternating Baghdadi courses (because they're wonderful and delicious) with Western European dishes (which will require some creativity on my part, as I'm not aware of a cookbook written between 400 AD - 1000 AD that has survived).  Toward that end, I'm testing out some of the recipes. 

This one is incredibly simple.  Its simplicity is striking when we consider that the meals consumed by the lower classes were rarely written down in period.  (That's just the lowly, dirty people - why would future generations care?)  Modern cooks would likely expect these meals, cooked for royalty, to be filled with pricey, rare and in some cases actually dangerous ingredients.  (A lot of the herbs that people used back In The Day, regardless of where, had some "side effects" and should be used judiciously - if you can still find them at all.)  The only ingredient I had trouble finding was fresh asafetida leaves, so I substituted ground.  (I could probably find them at some Indian markets, and will research getting a good quantity before the event.)  I wasn't so sure about the "cilantro juice" either, actually, so what I did was run some cilantro through the food processor and add a little water. 

The result was a decent little dish.  My husband enjoyed it very much.  Personally I'm not a huge fan of caraway, and I think that the meat could have marinated a little longer, but it was a tasty dish all the same. 

Roasted Sliced Meat (Sharayih) (serves 4; approx. $2.97.serving)

1 lb boneless leg of lamb

3 ounces olive oil

1 bunch cilantro

1/4 cup water

3/4 gram ground asafetida

2 ounces red wine vinegar

2 ounces soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon ground asafetida

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

Equipment:

• Some sort of grill (I used the Big Green Egg, a large ceramic charcoal cooker.  You can use whatever grill you have, or even the broiler in your oven in a pinch.  It won't give you that wood-fired flavor, but it will cook the meat.)
• Skewers - I used metal.
• Food processor
• Bowl
• Zip-top plastic bag
• Small bowl
• Whisk

1. Put the cilantro and the water into your food processor.  Process until it looks like juice. 
2. Combine the cilantro juice, olive oil and 3/4 gram asafetida in the bowl.  Whisk well to combine.
3. Slice your meat into strips. 
4. Put the meat into the plastic bag, then pour the marinade over the meat.  Press out all the air and refrigerate at least 3 hours (I think overnight would just about work.) 
5. When you're ready to cook, prepare your grill for high-heat direct cooking. 
6. Thread the meat onto the skewers. 
7. Grill until done.  This will depend on how thin you sliced your meat; I think that this might have taken us 7 minutes. 
8. Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce.  Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, remaining asafetida and caraway in the small bowl and whisk well. 
9. When the meat is done, remove it to a platter.  (I'm not sure that you need to remove it from the skewers.)  Serve it hot, with the dipping sauce. 

Recipe: Green Beans in Olive Oil

Recipe Source: Ward, Susan.  Lebanese Cooking.  Hackberry Press, Dallas, 1992 p. 31

I made this for a Labor Day party, the same barbeque that got the Pomodori Pulcinella.  That was a fun day.  The weather was great, the company was wonderful, and I got to spend a lot of time with my favorite small children in the world.  (If you knew them, they'd be your favorites too.  Trust me.)  In my head, the dish will always remind me of that day. 

It's a very simple dish, so simple that I didn't make a whole lot of changes.  I did double it, as well as increasing the garlic, decreasing the olive oil, and using fresh tomatoes instead of canned.  (I probably used a lot more than 14 ounces of them, too.)  I also omitted the chili pepper and cayenne, which I know is wildly inauthentic.  Our hosts don't do spicy food, and it seems incredibly rude to bring something to someone else's house that they won't enjoy. 

Green Beans in Olive Oil (serves 12; approx. $0.39/serving)

2 lb green beans, trimmed

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

8 garlic cloves, crushed

10 plum tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons paprika

Pinch kosher salt

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Colander
• Large wok or saute pan

1. Fill the large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
2. Add the green beans and blanch quickly, no more than 5 minutes.  Drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water.
3. Heat the oil in the wok and add the onion.  Season with the kosher salt and cook until the onions are just softened and not colored. 
4. Add the garlic.  Cook another 2 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes and the blanched green beans. 
6. Sprinkle the paprika over the mixture, then turn out into a serving vessel and serve.  This may be served at room temperature or cold, if desired, making it ideal for parties and potlucks.

Recipe: Proto-Baklava

Recipe Source: Al-Warraq, Ibn Sayyar.  Annals of the Caliph's Kitchens.  Nawal Nasrallah, trans.  Brill Press, Leiden, 2007 pp. 410-1.

So, in addition to the class that (it turns out) I'm teaching in September, it looks like I will also be working on another big food-related project for next year.  I'm actually a lot more excited for that project than for teaching, because I'm a better cook than I am a teacher.  That project involves a lot of tenth-century cooking, which will mean a lot of recipes from my favorite cookbook (above.)  One of my big questions is the dessert course.  While I'll be trying to feature both Western and Eastern dishes from the period, we have the most information about Middle Eastern sweets so the dessert course will be largely Eastern.  Toward that end, I've started experimenting with some of the sweets recipes from the book and serving them at Sunday open house.

This was the first recipe I decided to make.  The actual name of the dish is "lawzinaq," which is translated as "almond confection."  It's actually a whole family of nut-related confections.  The first such recipe I came across is attributed to a source that dates to 842 AD.  I read the recipe.  "Wow, this looks really familiar," I thought to myself.  I read it again, and then I read it again.  Eventually I figured it out.  It looked very similar to some baklava recipes.  I could be completely misinterpreting what I'm seeing, of course, but it really seemed very... baklava to me. 

There are some important differences.  The recipe calls for lawzinaq sheets, which are made by pouring the batter on a large flat pan called a tabaq.  While the recipe instructs one to cover the sheets "so that they stay malleable," I can't prove that phyllo dough is analogous.  It seems logical, but at the same time phyllo seemed very delicate.  When I do this again (and believe me - I will), I'll use an even thicker phyllo dough, called "country style." 

Also, the recipe didn't say specifically to bake the product.  I did, because I couldn't quite figure out how to make the dish adhere without baking it.  If you can, please suggest away.  I freely admit that I'm projecting things I know onto this recipe. 

Proto-Baklava (serves 16; approx. $1.29/serving)

1 lb almonds, ground

1 lb pistachios, ground

2 lb sugar plus 3/4 cup sugar

10 ounces rosewater

5 cloves

3 ounces almond oil

1 lb phyllo dough, thawed (I used #7 phyllo dough, I'll use country-style dough next time)

Equipment:

• Three bowls
• Pastry brush
• Baking sheets
• Saucepan

1. The night before you plan to start cooking, combine the rosewater and the
2. Preheat your oven to 375. 
3. Combine the ground almonds and 1 pound of sugar in one bowl.
4. Combine the ground pistachios and 1 pound of sugar in another bowl. 
5. Combine the almond oil and 1/3 cup of the clove-infused rosewater in the third bowl.
6. Lay one sheet of phyllo dough on a clean work surface and brush with the almond oil-rosewater mixture. 
7. Lay a second sheet onto the first and repeat the brushing.
8. Pour half the almond mixture on top of the sheets.
9. Layer another sheet of dough on top of the almond mixture and brush with the almond oil mixture.
10. Pour half of the pistachio mixture onto the sheet, then cover with another two sheets of phyllo dough brushed with the oil mixture.
11. Carefully roll the sheets up into what is essentially a cigar-shaped loaf. 
12. Repeat for the remaining nut mixture. 
13. Bake 20 minutes.
14. Meanwhile, make the syrup.  Combine the remaining 3/4 cup sugar with the remaining clove-infused rosewater in the saucepan. 
15. Bring to a boil.  Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup is fragrant.
16. When the loaves are cool, remove from the oven and carefully cut into rounds. 
17. Arrange the rounds carefully on the serving platter. 
18. Pour the syrup over the rounds and let cool. 
19. Serve.

Recipe: Assyrian Spinach Pies

Recipe Source: Patent, Greg.  A Baker's Odyssey.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2007 pp. 166 - 7.

Right before the big camping event we took recently, we evaluated our planned menu and determined that it was a little scant.  (Certain people allege that they later retracted that determination.  If true, it didn't matter.  I was already feeling inadequate about the amount of food.)  I cast about for something I could make that wouldn't require a lot of extra trips to the store, and came up with this recipe.  It was not medieval, but there was nothing in it that was specifically not-medieval.  It had the added advantage of being relatively cheap and combining vegetables (my personal obsession) and starch (which fills people up.) 

I have got to say that anything that could go wrong with this recipe did go wrong.  Cutting up the dough into little balls was a waste of time, since they just oozed back into each other like The Blob.  Likewise, rolling out all the dough into circles ahead of time just resulted in loud obscenities and frustration.  I suspect that part of the problem was with me - I had committed to helping a friend pick up a gaggle of children from different day cares, and I was desperate to get it done before I left.  Had I waited until I got home that night, I suspect things would have gone easier.  (And picking up the kids was absolutely 100% worth it.)  As it was, I found that folding the pies into little triangles was too fiddly and I didn't have time for it.  Instead I folded them up into half-moon like shapes, which was good.   I ran out of time and had to ask my husband to take over.  He did admirably, and by the time I got home the breads were all finished and happy. 

I made a few changes.  First, I doubled the recipe.  When we do these dinners we rarely know how many people to expect and I wanted to be prepared.  Secondly, I omitted the pomegranate seeds, because it was July and I had no pomegranates.  (This is a pity, because pomegranate is the best fruit ever and would have been perfect here.)  The procedural changes I've already discussed above, although I've included both types of pie here.  The result was a delicious side dish that satisfied pretty much everyone.  People were able to grab a little pie to snack on while out and about during the day, and we cut up the larger pies to feed more people during the dinner that night (thank you Carol for the suggestion.) 

Assyrian Spinach Pies (serves 40; approx. $0.55/serving)

4 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast (2 packages)

4 cups warm water, divided

1 teaspoon ground mahlab (available in Greek and Middle Eastern groceries, or in my Amazon store under "food."  This is an important flavor component in the dough and you should really use it if you can.)

10 cups all purpose flour

4 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup olive oil

5 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, chopped

2 lb baby spinach, chopped

2 cups chopped walnuts

8 ounces crumbled feta cheese

2/3 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons black pepper

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Medium mixing bowl (or an additional bowl for your stand mixer)
• Large mixing bowl
• Rolling pin
• Saute pan or wok
• Cookie sheets

1. Make the dough in two batches unless you're doing this in a commercial stand mixer (hence the two bowls mentioned in equipment.)  These instructions will be given for two batches.
2. Sprinkle 2 1/4 teaspoons of the yeast into 1/4 cup of the warm water.  Add 1/2 teaspoon mahlab and stir well.
3. Let stand at room temperature about 10 minutes, until the yeast is proofed.  Repeat for the remaining yeast and mahlab.
4. In the bowl of the stand mixer, combine 1/2 the flour, 1/2 the sugar and 1/2 the salt. 
5. Add half the remaining warm water (1 3/4 cups) and 1/3 cup olive oil. 
6. Add one of the yeast mixtures and knead on speed 2 for 2 minutes.
7. Increase to speed 5 and knead 3 - 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and just slightly sticky. 
8. Turn this mixture into a lightly oiled bowl (per equipment above) and repeat for the remaining dough ingredients.
9. Cover both dough bowls with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
10. When the dough has risen, cut the dough into 48 individual pieces, shape into balls, and let sit another 1/2 hour at room temperature covered by kitchen towels.
11. To make the filling, heat the 5 tablespoons olive oil in the saute pan over medium heat. 
12. Add the onions and cook until golden, stirring occasionally, until golden. 
13. Transfer the onions to the large bowl.  Add the spinach, walnuts, feta and lemon juice.  Mix well.  I promise that if you are using fresh spinach, the spinach will not make the pies soggy. 
14. Preheat your oven to 375 and prepare your cookie sheets according to your preference.  They do not need to be greased. 
15. Roll out a circle of dough to a diameter of about 6 inches on a lightly floured surface. 
16. Spoon some of the filling into the center of the dough.  Fold over the dough and press to seal firmly around the edges.  Repeat until all the remaining dough has been used. 
17. Bake 25 - 30 minutes. 
18. Serve and enjoy. 

Recipe: Couscous Cooked in Broth

Recipe Source: Ibn Razin.  "Book of the Excellent Table Composed of the Best Foods and the Best Dishes."  13th century AD, probably Murcia.  Published and translated in Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, by Lilia Zaouali, M. B. DeBevoise trans.  University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007 p. 123

I will be the first to tell you that I simply abhor couscous.  There is a very good and very unappetizing reason for this, and I will spare you the details except to let you know that it involved the gross anatomy lab at a medical school in upstate New York.  However, while I am not alone in my distaste for this frankly inoffensive pasta-like product, I know that I am in the distinct minority.  When I was trying to plan my menu for the big medieval dinner on our camping trip a little while ago, I knew that I needed some sort of starchy dish that would fill people up.  I found this recipe for couscous and decided that it fit most of my needs. 

The original recipe wanted the dish to be served with the meat and vegetables that went into the broth used to cook the couscous.  That really wasn't an option.  I needed the dish to be vegetarian, and there weren't enough vegetables that went into the broth to serve with the couscous.  An alternative version listed in the same recipe suggested eggplant.  I decided to cook some eggplant in the same broth as the couscous and serve it on the side - not everyone likes eggplant.  My friend Laura brought some marinated mushrooms to donate to the spread; some people really liked them with the couscous.  I don't have the recipe for the mushrooms, unfortunately. 

At any rate, this was a fairly tasty dish that was enjoyed by many.  It was also very simple to cook and traveled well. 

Couscous Cooked in Broth (serves 20; approx. $0.70/serving)

2 lb couscous

5 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth, divided

2 eggplant, roughly diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Equipment:

• Saucepan for cooking the couscous
• Saute pan or wok

1. Cook the couscous according to the package instructions, using the vegetable broth instead of water.
2. Heat the oil in the wok. 
3. Add the eggplant and saute until the oil is mostly absorbed. 
4. Add the additional 1 cup broth and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer until the eggplant is softened.
6. Serve with the eggplant on the side, or for a more authentic presentation serve with the eggplant on top of the couscous.