I used to eat in a little Turkish restaurant a good few years ago while I was working in London. Me and a couple of other people from work would go to this place every Tuesday for lunch. The owners wife was a nice Lebanese lady who would cook specials on Tuesdays. The food was simply amazing. I can still taste the slow cooked lamb and vermicelli in the rice after all this time.

As I moved across country in the past few years, I never came across Lebanese restaurants or food so I was glad when I stumbled upon hommus w tabbouli food blog. The recipes here are easy to follow for even those unfamiliar with middle eastern cooking. Most of them reminds me of my childhood foods and I couldn't resist trying some of them. the following recipe was my first attempt at the recipes and it turned out nicely. I changed the quantities slightly as I didn't have enough pine nuts at home but otherwise I stayed through to the recipe. I served the dish with saffron rice which worked very well.

Enjoy:-)

Ingredients:

• 200 g/ 7 oz. fresh Spinach
• 50 g/ 1.7 oz. Pine nuts
• 1 medium Onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove Garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon, juice only
• 1 tbsp Tomato pure
• 250 g/ 8 oz. Lamb mince
• 1/2 pint boiling Water
• 1 tsp Turmeric
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pan and fry onion and garlic for 3-4 minutes.
• Add the pine nuts and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
• Add the mince and turmeric to the pan, mix well and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until mince is browned.
• Add the spinach to the mixture and mix well.
• Dissolve tomato pure in 500 ml of hot water and pour into the pan.
• Season and add the lemon juice, then cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes.
• Uncover the pan and simmer for 5-7 minutes until the sauce as slightly thickened.
• Serve hot with rice.