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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
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