Chicken Kebabs and Spinach Pie

Super Bowl Sunday proved to be a Mediterranean feast day. We had chicken kebabs, spinach pie, grilled zucchini and rice. It turned out fantastic! The kebab recipe is from A Taste of Persia, and the spinach pie recipe is from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

Chicken Kebabs

Chicken:

4 boneless chicken breasts cut into 1.5 inch pieces

Marinade:

1 tsp ground saffron threads, dissolved in 2 TBSP hot water

1 cup fresh lime juice

2 TBSP olive oil

2 large onions, peeled and thinly siced

2 TBSP plain yogurt

2 tsp salt

2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Basting:

2 TBSP butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Spinach Pies:

Dough:

1 tsp active dry yeast

pinch of sugar

About 1 cup of lukewarm water

3 cups of bread flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Spinach Pies: makes about 50, but you can easily half this and the dough recipe
Filling:

2 lbs. frozen leaf spinach, defrosted

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion

4 TBSP sumac

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup of pine nuts or chopped walnuts (optional)

salt and pepper

1. Put the spinach in a colander and press out the water, then squeeze the leaves between your palms to get rid of any remaining liquid. Coarsely chop the spinach and mix in a bowl with the rest of the filling ingredients.
2. Punch down and knead the risen dough. Divide into 4 or 6 balls for easier handling. When rolling out one ball, keep the remaining ones wrapped in plastic.
3. Roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface, and keep turning over the dough and dusting underneath with flour so that it doesn’t stick. Roll out as thinly as possible. Cut the sheet into 1.5-2 inch rounds with a pastry cutter. pick up the scraps, roll them into a ball, and roll out again to make more rounds. Take each round and roll out again, then pull out and stretch until it is paper-thin and about 3-3.5 inches in diameter.
4. take each pastry round, lay it flat on one hand, and put a TBSP of filling in the middle. (1) Shape into the traditional 3 sides and bring them together over the filling. (2) Pinch the edges together, making thin, ridged joint in the shape of a 2 sided start and losing the pies. (3) Place th pies on a lightly oiled baking sheet and press down a little to flatten their bases.
5. Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Rice: prepare rice and then sprinkle sumac on top to serve.

Chicken Kebab Recipe:

Spinach Pie Recipe: