Fatayer Sabanikh

spinach pies, that is, from Lebanon, courtesy of The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook (300 pages & 600 color photos of recipes from countries surrounding the mediterranean sea that cost me a mere $5.99). i had bought a pound of spinach but didn't know what to do with it, so to the stack of cheap cookbooks i went and found this recipe. you may be more familiar with the greek version of spinach pie (spanakopita); this is similar, but the big difference is that the greek version is usually made with phyllo pastry while the lebanese version uses a yeast dough (more like pizza or calzone dough). when i was making the dough, i thought it was rather odd that there was no salt in the recipe. i thought maybe it was a typo, but as it wasn't mentioned in either the directions or in the list of ingredients, i stuck to the recipe. there are several steps to this recipe. none of them are terribly complicated or require many ingredients, but it helps to be well organized. the recipe makes 10 of these medium-sized triangles. and the verdict? not bad. very mild...almost bland. very almost bland. hey, it's spinach. if i were to make this again, there are 2 changes i think i'd make: first, i might add some red pepper flakes to the spinach filling to give it a little more oomph. second, because of the lack of salt in the dough (which didn't help with the overall near blandness of the dish), i might sprinkle some sea salt over them before baking (they are brush with an egg wash, so the salt would stick). as they are, though, they taste pretty authentic, very similar (though larger!) to what i've had in lebanese restaurants.