My friend, Heather, had this awesome idea to have an Olympics opening ceremony party where everyone would bring a dish from their heritage. This got me thinking about my favorite Lebanese dish - meat pies! Unfortunately, the party fell through but my craving for meat pies did not go away so I decided I would make them for Sunday night dinner.
Many of you may be asking why on earth would I be making something Lebanese?! Well dear friends, it's because I am Lebanese! Duh! How could you not tell by my olive skin and dark hair? Clearly my dad's Scottish/Irish genes beat out my mom's Lebanese/Polish genes in that fight. Needless to say, I stick out like a sore thumb at family reunions on my mom's side of the family.
My grandma (on my mom's side) is 100% Lebanese. Both her parents came to the U.S. from Lebanon back in the late 1800's and made a life for themselves in Jefferson City, Missouri. My great grandpa Saffee's silk worms he brought with him are actually preserved in City Hall there! Kinda cool in a totally dorky way! Great grandma Saffee passed on her Lebanese recipes to my grandma and all her brothers and sisters and to this day, they are still made at special occasions - Christmas, Thanksgiving, family reunions, birthdays and so on. I always thought it was totally normal to have meat pies, kibbee, and tabbouleh with turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving growing up.
My all time favorite are the meat pies and I look forward to helping my grandma make them every year at Thanksgiving. One year my sister and I finally made her write down the recipe (it's the only one missing from the Saffee family cookbook and my grandma just knows it by heart). This was interesting since my grandma NEVER measures anything when she cooks! She tried using shakes, dallops, handfuls, and pinches to describe how to make them but that did not fly with Ashley and I. We finally got it down in terms of teaspoons, cups, and ounces and what do you know? We left it in Pensacola with grandma!
This week, with my mouth watering with the thought of meat pies, I called my grandma and had her read me te recipe and walk me through the whole process. After letting the bread rise all day Sunday, rolling, filling, and pinching endless numbers of sough pockets, I had my meat pies! Of course they're not as good as grandma's but nothing ever is as delicious as the original!
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