Pastries with Meat and Pine Nuts
SAMBOUSIK
Pastry:
1 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 cup butter or other shortening
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold water
The sambousik is a close relative of the Turkish boerek. Passed round within minutes after being taken from the hot fat in which they are fried, these are popular fixtures at Beirut cocktail parties.
Sift flour with salt and cut shortening in finely. Add water gradually to make a soft dough. Roll out 1/8 inch thick on pastry board. Cut into rounds with biscuit cutter. Put a teaspoon of stuffing in the center of each pastry. Fold over in half and pinch edges together. Fry in deep fat until brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Some like them hot, some like them lukewarm. Either way, they disappear in a hurry. Makes about 20 Sambousiks.
Filling:
1 1/2 cups lean minced or ground meat
1/2 CUp onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Saute onions until yellow in two tablespoons of shortening. Add meat, nuts, salt and pepper. Fry until meat loses its pink color, stirring occasionally. Pour off excess fat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spinach Turnovers
FATAYIR BI SABAANIKH
Here is another good dish for meatless days. Lebanese cooks often put these pastries on large round tin trays and carry the trays to the bakery to be cooked. The steady, intense heat bf the commercial oven produces a light and crisp pastry.
Pastry:
7 cups bread flour
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Cold water
Dissolve yeast in a tablespoon of tepid water. Stir in olive oil and the flour mixed with salt. Add enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Cover and let stand 30 minutes. Roll out on floured board to quarter inch thickness. Cut in circles with biscuit cutter. Put a tablespoon of filling on each pastry. Fold over in a triangular shape and press edges together firmly. Place on well oiled baking sheet and bake in hot oven until very lightly browned. Pinch each pastry open slightly and sprinkle the exposed filling with a few drops of lemon juice. Serve with lemon wedges.
Filling:
2 Ibs. fresh spinach
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup pine nuts or walnuts
1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins (optional)
Lemon juice
Powdered ground sammak (sumac)
Salt and pepper
Cinnamon
Wash spinach. Shake to dry. Chop finely. Mix with other ingredients, adding enough lemon juice and sammak to give a pleasantly sharp tang. Fills about 50 turnovers.

Meat Tarts
LAHM BI 'AJEEN
Pastry:
5 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups samneh (or other shortening)
Filling:
2 cups lamb meat, finely chopped
1/2 cup onions, finely chopped
1 cup samneh
1/2 Cup pine nuts
3/4cup labneh
Pomegranate seeds
Salt and pepper
Good with a summer salad, these pastries may be prepared ahead of time, stored in a deep freeze, and reheated until piping hot in the oven. Serve with a laban sauce.
Prepare pastry by sifting flour with salt. Add melted and cooled samneh. Stir in the water. Knead until smooth, adding more water if necessary to make dough easy to handle. Let stand an hour covered with a damp cloth. Divide pastry into portions the size of an egg. Pat each with the hands, or roll out on a board until round and pastry-thin. Dip fingers in melted samneh and fold the pastry over upon itself, working all around the edge of the round. This will incorporate more of the short- ening into the pastry and make it flakier.
Mix filling ingredients well together. Place a spoonful of filling on each pastry. Decorate with pomegranate seeds. Bake in hot oven until meat is browned and pastry is crisp. Makes about 50 tarts. Serve hot.
Meat Tarts II
LAHM BI 'AJEEN II
These pastries are made with leavened bread dough. In the Middle East one may buy dough at a bakery. Or, one may make the dough at home using an ordinary bread dough recipe.
Purchase two pounds of dough, or prepare a one-loaf bread recipe. Work one cup shortening into the dough. When well incorporated, roll out to one-half inch thickness on a floured board. Cut into rounds with biscuit cutter. Flatten further with the fingers. Dip fingers in melted shortening and fold about a half-inch of the pastry in on itself all around the edge to form a raised rim. Put a spoonful of meat filling in each pastry. Decorate with pomegranate seeds. Bake in a hot oven and serve while hot.

Meat Pastry Thinnies
RAQAQAAT
6 round sheets of unbaked Jewish bread
1 1/2 cups chopped lean meat
1/2 cup minced onions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Pass meat through grinder twice. Fry minced onions in two tablespoons shortening until yellow. Add meat, pine nuts, salt and pepper and fry gently until nuts are light brown and the meat has lost its pink color. Cut each sheet of bread into four wedges. Put a spoonful of filling on the broad end of each wedge. Roll up tightly into a pencil shape. Press together. Lay rolled pastries on a damp towel close together. Just before serving, fry in deep fat until light brown and crisp. Makes about two dozen.
Filling II:
Prepare stuffing of minced boiled brains mixed with an unbeaten egg and an equal quantity of grated cheese. Season with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of parsley.
Filling III: