Little Pies with wild Fennel

Last week I took our Farah dog for a walk….on our return I saw a beautiful meadow….

With the high winter rainfall and the start of spring the countryside was full of wild flowers and dense foliage. The aroma of spring was all around. It was stunningly beautiful.

I got out of the car and went for a walk. I found wild fennel, willow and wild onions..all in flower! I collected 2-3 bunches of each and went home.

A recipe came to mind with a spring-like taste and smell. The little fennel pies of Mrs Fofos.

Mrs Fofo was my mother’s best friend. She is from Crete, a tall strong woman. We didn’t have the best relationship with her husband Andrea though, as he was very strict. We did hang out with her daughter Maria though when we were young kids, she lives in Belgium now.

I was thinking about her…she was 2-3 years older when we were kids and beat us at all the games of course. The same with hopscotch..

Anyway. Those days always come to mind in spring with the amazing little fennel pies of Mrs Fofos…The incredibly thin and crispy pastry, the over filled to bursting filling, with your mouth smelling of spring…

I thought I would try to make them and hopefully manage to bring back that taste..

I made a simple dough, prepared the filling and the little fennel pies were ready..

They weren’t the same as Mrs Fofos’s naturally. With her experience she made the pastry so thin and crispy I didn’t manage to replicate them exactly.

It doesn’t matter…the house was filled with the smell of them and the taste was almost the same.

I will make them again..and I think I will go and find Mrs Fofos and ask her to show me exactly how she made them…

Diffuculty: 2 of 3

Duration:30 minutes prep, 4 minutes frying

Serves:12 pieces

Ingredients

For the pastry.

140 gr. Water

3 tbsp. Olive oil

30 gr Tsipouro/Raki/Vodka

250gr. All purpose flour (plus a little extra for the rolling out)

1/2 tsp. Salt

For the filling.

200 gr Wild fennel (preferred)

I white onion finely chopped

Some willow flowers (if available

I small fennel root finely chopped

4 spring onions (scallions) finely chopped

3 tbsp Olive oil and a little extra for frying

Salt

Method

We prepare the dough first as it needs to rest.

In a small bowl we put the water, the Olive oil, the Tsipouro and mix them up with a spoon.

Add the flour and the salt and start to mix them with the spoon and then as the mixture starts to absorb the liquid use your hands to form a soft dough.

Forming the dough into a ball, cover the dough with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour to rest.

During this time prepare the filling, finely chopping all the green ingredients after washing them well and leave them in a colander to strain and sprinkle them with a little salt.

Squeeze the leaves to get rid of most of the water, put in a bowl and add the olive oil and stir them together testing whether they need any salt.

Sprinkle a little flour on the counter and using a floured rolling pin, start to roll out the dough in one sheet approximately 3 ml thick.

Use a small bowl or glass or cup to cut out circular sections of dough.

On each cut out section of dough put approximately one large spoon of filling.

Using your fingers wet the edges of the dough circle in order that it will stick closed over the filling.

Close the semicircular parcels with a fork well so the filling does not escape during frying.

Add about a finger’s depth of olive oiling a frying pan and fry (at 180c) the pies until they have an even golden brown colour.

Put the finished pies on some kitchen paper to drain the excess oil and serve the pies piping hot.