The inspiration for this simple and delicious recipe came from some very dear, loyal regular customers who lent us their recipe book "Pasteten" by Stéphane Reynaud, which we have been browsing ever since. For Easter, I decided on a variation filled with fish and egg and replaced the salmon fillet originally intended for the filling with canned tuna.
"It all started with the dough" ... that's what it says in the foreword of the beautiful baking book, which of course also contains the basic recipes for sweet and savory puff and shortcrust pastry. The author also has compassion for stressed city dwellers without their own rolling pin and allows the use of ready-made options such as filo or brik pastry from the Greek or Turkish shop. Depending on which type of dough you choose, the pasty will be different. For example, I baked mine with paper-thin Turkish filo pastry probably intended for börek. At the same time, I also successfully experimented with a small mini-version in a fireproof soufflé dish, of which no photos exist because my hunger was too great. So that works too. Furthermore, I could also imagine the whole thing in a casserole dish ... probably almost anything works. Depending on your preference and kitchen equipment.
I also didn't take the recipe and the units of measurement entirely seriously. I generally like to freestyle in the kitchen. Since I didn't have 6 people to feed, for whom the recipe is designed, I reduced the tuna, cream, and eggs to 3 people, but not the herbs and the pastis. I also didn't blend the farce in a mixer but only mixed and roughly crushed it with a fork, because I actually really like it when you still have a few pieces to chew between your teeth and the texture of the fish remains recognizable.
Ingredients for 6 people:
- 600 g canned tuna (mixed natural and in olive oil)
- 1 bunch of dill
- 5 eggs (fresh free-range eggs from the farmer at our shop)
- 300 ml cream
- 1 tbsp pastis
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- Salt, pepper
- 1 bunch of basil
- 500 g puff pastry
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Preparation of the filling:
Pick the leaves from the dill, wash and finely chop. Blend the tuna with the dill, 4 eggs, the cream and the pastis in a mixer or crush with a fork and mix well. Add the fennel seeds and season with salt and pepper. Pick the basil leaves and wash them.
Assembly and baking:
Halve the dough and roll out into two equal-sized rectangles. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with butter and place a dough base on it. Spread half of the farce on it, leaving a 1cm wide border free. Top with the basil and cover with the remaining farce. Since I was dealing with very thin dough and had far too much of it available, I divided the farce with a second layer of dough. Brush the dough edge with the beaten remaining egg, place the second sheet of dough on top and firmly seal the edges. Brush the pasty with more egg, sprinkle with sesame seeds and bake for 45 minutes at 180°C.
Conclusion:
The pasty tastes wonderfully light and at the same time spicy. The mixture of dill, basil and fennel seeds is really interesting and aromatic. Personally, I didn't get enough of the taste of the pastis, so next time I might take a second tablespoon of it. And anyone who simply cannot get enough of that delicious fennel taste can of course also mix in a can of tuna fillets with fennel!
Fresh from the oven and warm, I already found the pasty very delicious, but I actually liked it even better cold the next day at the picnic.
For me, this really uncomplicated and quickly made pasty is the ideal picnic food and thus great for Easter: for breakfast, for a picnic or for a buffet. Or also as a savory snack when you have had enough of chocolate eggs and yeast bread ...
And really, you can choose what you want to put in the filling. If you still have a can of sardines or mackerel lying around – capers could also work very well, or olives – just throw them in, it will surely taste good.
As a wine pairing a light white wine fits best. Since I happened to have a bottle of the new Alento branco in the refrigerator, I tried it with it right away and what can I say: it fits perfectly!
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Here is the print-friendly version of the recipe as a pdf version
