These little wonders are not for the faint hearted. Just looking at them is enough to give you a heart attack! I guess the effort making them will burn all the calories gained from eating them, right??
If you are not aware, pastizzi are Malta’s national snack! Flaky pastry which encloses different fillings, the most common being peas, and ricotta cheese. Other flavours exist including apple, anchovy, corned beef and many more. Pastizzi are served throughout Malta and can be bought from specialist pastizzi shops including the many cofee shops, restaurants and bars in Malta. Pastizzi can also be bought in other countries including the UK, America, Canada and Australia.
I remember when I was young we used to make pastizzi by hand. However, we eventually started to buy pastizzi frozen from specialist makers which seemed to be more economical at the time. We were also able to buy frozen pastizzi from local specialist fruit and vegetable stores. When we had visitors we just put them straight in the oven from the freezer. Delicious.
We were married in Mosta Church (the one that was bombed) in 2010. Straight after Mass some of my family gave guests pastizzi as a snack to curb their appetite before they went to the wedding reception venue. I thought it was a great idea as I know just how hungry people are after having to go through a long Mass (I always am). They were ordered and purchased from one of the nearby pastizzi specialist stores.
The pastry used to make pastizzi is a phyllo like pastry and I made this by hand. Thin pastry is stretched and rolled with layers of fat in between to get the flakiness. Specialist pastizzi ‘chefs’ are experts at this and can seem to make hundreds if not thousands daily. I used shortening and butter to make my pastry but I have seen it made just with shortening, with butter only and also with margarine (that’s what my Nanna used). It wasn’t as hard as I thought, although I had to have two goes at it before I got the flake I wanted. The first time I had not used enough shortening and butter. I also rolled my pastry twice but most recipes roll there pastry out once. Some of my pastizzi have been frozen too and I will be testing to see how they bake in the oven straight from the freezer.
I will be experimenting a little more down the track to see what method seems to work best and easiest. My pastizzi by no means looked like what you buy in the shop but the pea and corned beef pastizzi tasted almost identical to the shops (I made pea and corned beef, and also cheese pastizzi). I still need practise with shaping my pastizzi but some of them came out quite well. I have seen pastizzi shaped differently. Pea pastizzi are usually folded over and look like an apple turnover. Cheese pastizzi seem to be folded on each side towards the centre.
I used fresh gbejniet to make my cheese mixture but this can easily be substituted with ricotta cheese. My peas and corned beef mixture was made using canned mushy peas and canned corned beef. Try and get good canned corned beef and also mushy peas which have not been all mushed up. You still want to see some of the peas. Canned mushy peas are made from dried peas. This gives a different taste to fresh peas.Make sure to use the canned version which are made from dried or reconstituted peas. Some people make their peas mixture from dried peas which could also be done but I have not experimented with this yet. Curry was also added to my pea and corned beef mixture. Yet again, curry props up in this recipe. I personally don’t think it is optional but if you don’t like it then you can leave out.
I still am to find some more information on the history of pastizzi and where it originated from but the phyllo pastry method, at least seems to come from the Ottoman period.
I have seen some ‘healthier’ versions propping up and I will be experimenting a bit more down the track to see if I can come up with something a bit healthier too.
Give pastizzi making a go! It is not as hard as it initially seems. It just takes a little time to prepare the pastry but it is all worth it. You need to prepare the initial dough overnight, or in the morning ready for making the pastizzi in the afternoon.
Pastizzi
Cook time
Total time
Pastizzi is the national Maltese snack. Delicious and filling. Not overly difficult to make but the pastry takes a bit of time.
Author: www.amaltesemouthful.com (Marlene Zammit)
Recipe type: Appetizer, brunch
Cuisine: Maltese
Ingredients
- 400 grams sifted flour
- 200 ml water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 60 grams lard at room temperature but not too soft
- 70 grams butter at room temperature but not too soft
- Filling (cheese, peas, peas and corned beef or other fillings you choose)
- Makes approximately 20 to 25 pastizzi
- For the cheese filling:
- 5 gbejniet (maltese cheese) or about 500 grams fresh ricotta
- 4 tablespoons grated cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- Salt and pepper to season
- For the pea and corned beef mixture:
- 1 can mushy peas
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 375 grams corned beef
- 1 onion finely diced
- 1 large tablespoon curry powder
- Salt and Pepper to season
- Olive oil for frying
Instructions
- Sift flour.
- In a mixing bowl add the flour and salt.
- Slowly start to add water and with a dough mixer start mixing the water, flour and salt.
- Keep adding the water until you have a dough ball. You may need to turn off the mixer before the dough ball has been created and knead by hand.
- Knead the ball for about fifteen minutes. The ball should be quite stiff but not too dry.
- Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge overnight or at least six hours.
- Prepare a table by smearing 30 grams of lard over the surface.
- Roll out your dough as thinly as possible to create a large piece of flattened dough.
- Smear dough with 30 grams of butter.
- Start rolling the dough into a swiss roll shape and stretch the dough as much as possible as you go along.
- Once you have finished rolling by hand stretch the 'swiss roll' or 'snake' and roll into a snail shell shape. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Once 1 hour has passed then prepare your table again to do the same procedure again.
- Smear remaining lard on table and roll out the snail shape dough.
- Smear 30 grams of butter over the flattened dough and roll into a swiss roll shape again.
- Stretch your swiss roll and make into a snail shell shape again. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge one last time for 2 hours.
- During this time prepare your mixture.
- Preheat oven to 200oC.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and unravel. Smear with the remaining 10 grams of butter and cut in 3 cm pieces.
- Take one piece at a time and flatten with your fingers lengthways.
- Place a small spoonful of mixture onto the dough and close. If making cheese pastizzi fold one piece of dough in the centre and then cover with the remaining piece. Pinch the sides. If making pea pastizzi then fold over one side of the dough over in the shape of a semi circle (or apple turnover) and pinch the rounded sides to close.
- Place pastizzi on a baking tray with baking paper.
- Reduce oven temperature to 180oC and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on all sides.
- To make the cheese mixture:
- Mix ricotta, egg, parsley and grated cheese gently.
- Season with pepper and salt
- To make the pea and corned beef mixture:
- Fry onion and garlic in a frying pan for five minutes
- Add curry powder and fry for a further minute
- Add corned beef and fry for about 5 minutes
- Add in mush peas and gently mix to warm the peas
- Taste and season with pepper and salt. Add extra curry powder if required.
Mixing the basic ingredients to form the dough.
The dough created after mixing.
Kneading the dough for about fifteen minutes
After leaving the dough overnight wrapped in plastic in the fridge. It is then taken out ready for rolling!
A greased table with lard and the dough rolled out as thinly as possible. Butter is then smeared all over the dough.
Rolling the pastry into a ‘swiss roll’ shape.
Stretching the pastry as you are rolling.
Once all the dough has been rolled the ‘swiss roll’ or ‘snake’ has been created.
Stretching the snake out to create a longer snake.
Rolling the snake into a snail shell shape. This is then placed in the fridge for at least an hour or two.
Place more lard on the table and smear the rolling pin. Roll out the snail shell again to create another large flattened piece of dough.
Begin the same process as previously done. Smear remaining butter on the flattened dough and roll in a swiss roll shape again.
Stretching again.
Once your final swiss roll has been created, stretch and then roll up into a snail shell. Smear with a little butter or lard. Place in the fridge for an hour or two while you prepare your mixtures.
Ricotta/Gjbeniet mixture including a few different types of cheese, parsley, egg and seasoning.
Final cheese mixture once mixed gently.
Ingredients for pea mixture – canned mushy peas, onion, garlic and curry powder.
Add in corned beef to your pea mixture if you want to.
Final pea and corned beef mixture.
After one to two hours remove your pastry and unravel. Cut along in about 3 cm cylindrical shapes.
Obtain one piece of pastry and with your fingers flatten into round shapes from the length of the dough pieces. Place dough on table or between your finger and forefinger and place on a small spoonful of mixture.
If using cheese mixture fold one side of dough over the mixture and then another side of dough over the other piece.
Folded dough over cheese mixture
Pinch the sides of the cheese pastizzi.
If making pea/corned beef pastizzi then place the pea mixture in the centre of your pastry and cover one piece of mixture over the other side to form a semicircle (like an apple turnover).
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown in a preheated oven at 180oC.
