A Venture into the Middle East

The war may be ending, but my newfound love for Middle Eastern cuisine is not. Who knew that this particular corner of the world knows exactly how to combine beef, cream cheese, and cinnamon to make a dish that only triggers the gag reflex after having eaten 5 too many meat pies?

Firstly, I’ll begin by explaining why I decided to make Middle Eastern food. I’m Cara, the International Relations/French major. If you couldn’t tell from the content of my studies, I’m fascinated by all things ethnic, including people. My roommate, Alyssa, is only a single entity in my culturally diverse collection of people and foods. In the fall, Alyssa and I went to the Middle Eastern Food Festival hosted in Birmingham by the Saint George Melkite Catholic Church. After perusing the menu, I settled on the meat pies. At that moment, a great love was born and months later I had to give it a whirl despite my lack of recipe. And what better time to feed my family Middle Eastern food than Christmastime? (Well, Jesus was Middle Eastern after all…) So last night with the help of my brother, a meal was born.

Middle Eastern Meat Pies (My very own impromptu recipe)

Serves 6-8

1.5 lbs of ground round beef 

2 chopped green onions

1 Tbs of butter (or margarine)

8-11 oz. of cream cheese (depending on how cheesy you want it)

salt

pepper

cinnamon 

2 packages of large Pillsbury crescent rolls

1. Chop the onion. Melt butter on medium to large skillet and sauté the onion in the butter.

2. Add the beef to the butter and onion mixture. Cook beef on medium/high heat until it is completely cooked. (No tapeworms for you!)

3. Once the beef is completely cooked, add cream cheese. Turn heat down to medium. Melt the cream cheese and mix completely with the ground beef.

4. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of beef mixture. I didn’t measure this exactly, but you want to cover the mixture. Best guess—3-4 tsp. The cinnamon isn’t supposed to be overpowering, just to give it a hint. Mix well with the beef.

6. Set oven according to directions on pillsbury can. Put a spoon full of beef mixture into the center of the dough and close the edges of the dough around it. The beef should be completely contained within the crescent roll. 

7. Put in the oven for 10-12 minutes et voilà! Step one of your Middle Eastern Meal is complete!

-Cara