Week 49: Middle Eastern - Lebanese Meat Pies & Cucumber Mint Salad

I developed these recipes from reading over a few sites. Like most regional food, there are variations, and then they get changed even more as the food travels with the people.

For the Meat Pies I put beef, tomato paste, onion, cinnamon, S&P, lemon juice and pine nuts into pizza dough rounds after cooking them all at once on the stove. I could have made a pita dough, but time is a precious commodity around these parts, so I cheated. It’s Lebanese-Syrian inspired over all.

The salad is sliced cucumbers, mint, garlic and greek yogurt. It honestly made a better tzatziki for dipping the pies in.

My boyfriend made a good point. Why are the best small handheld foods (dumplings, meat pies, golumpki) the biggest pain to make?