I have been reading Abla’s Lebanese Kitchen, a comprehensive book on ‘homestyle’ Lebanese cooking with many interesting recipes.  One that caught my eye was the Meat and Pine Nut Pastries.  Abla uses a Lebanese pastry but I used fresh filo as that is what I had.  I also added some chopped mint and parsley from the herb garden to freshen it up a bit.  The pastries could be served as part of a mezza (a meal of many small dishes and salads that often precedes another meal though it can be a meal in itself) or as a lunch dish with some Lebanese dips and salads.

Meat and Pine Nut Pastries

Ingredients

olive oil for greasing

1 x 375 g packet fresh filo pastry

For the filling:

2 tbs olive oil

1/4 cup pine nuts

250 g coarsely ground lean lamb

1 onion (finely chopped)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground sumac

1 tbs fresh parsley (finely chopped)

1 tbs fresh mint (finely chopped)

Method

Toast pine nuts gently in a dry pan until a light golden brown (keep an eye on them as they burn easily).  Set aside.  Put a little oil in the pan and fry the meat until all the moisture has gone and the meat is lightly browned.  Add chopped onion and fry for a further three or four minutes or until the onion is translucent.  Add the salt and spices and fry for a further two minutes or until fragrant.  Turn off the heat and stir through the chopped herbs and toasted pine nuts.  Allow to cool.

Take a sheet of filo pastry and brush it gently with olive oil.  Place another filo pastry sheet on top and slice the the two sheets length ways down the middle.  Put a little of the filling in the top corner of one of the pastry sheets, fold the other corner over to form a triangle, keep folding up the pastry sheet from corner to corner until you have a neat parcel.  Place on a greased tray.  Brush pastries with olive oil and sprinkle on some cumin seeds (optional).  Bake in a preheated 220° C oven for 20 mins turning once.  Reduce heat to 180°C and cook for a further 10 – 15 mins until golden brown and crispy.