Pastizzi

Ingredients

Dough

• 500 gstrong white bread flour
• 1 tspfine salt
• 280 mlwarm water
• 2 tbspsunflower oil
• 250 gsoft white vegetable shortening or block margarine, at room temperature and beaten to a paste

Irkotta filling

• 500 gfresh ricotta, drained overnight in a sieve
• 2large eggs
• 3 tbspchopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tspcoarsely ground black pepper
• ½ tspsalt

Pizelli filling

• 300 gdried split green peas, soaked 4 hours and drained
• 2 tbspolive oil
• 1onion (150 g), finely chopped
• 1 tspmild curry powder
• 1 tbsptomato puree
• 600 mlwater
• 1 tspsalt, plus black pepper

Directions

1. Mix the flour, salt, water and oil into a firm dough and knead 10 minutes until smooth and very elastic. Rub with a little oil, cover and rest 1 hour; a slack, under-kneaded dough will tear when you stretch it.
2. For the pizelli, soften the onion in the olive oil for 8 minutes, add the curry powder and tomato puree for 1 minute, then the drained peas and water. Simmer 45 minutes until the peas collapse into a thick, coarse mash that holds a furrow. Season and cool completely.
3. For the irkotta, beat the drained ricotta with the eggs, parsley, pepper and salt until just combined. Keep it stiff, not runny.
4. Divide the dough in two. On a large oiled surface, roll one piece out thin, then stretch it with the backs of your hands from underneath until it is almost transparent, roughly 60 by 40 cm.
5. Smear half the shortening over the whole sheet with your fingers, then roll it up from the long side into a tight rope. Stretch the rope gently and coil it into a snail. Repeat with the second piece. Chill both coils 1 hour.
6. Cut each coil into 8 discs and stand each disc cut-side up. Press with the thumbs from the middle outwards into a rough oval cup 10 cm across, keeping the spiral visible; this laminated spiral is what gives pastizzi their shattering flakes.
7. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of filling into each, then pinch the two long sides together over the filling, leaving both ends open, to make the pointed diamond shape.
8. Bake on a lined tray at 220°C (425°F) for 15 minutes, then drop to 190°C (375°F) for a further 25–30 minutes until deeply golden, dry and audibly crisp when tapped.
9. Cool 5 minutes only. Pastizzi are eaten scalding, in paper, standing up.

Technique

• Maltese pastizzi dough is not classic puff pastry. It is a stretched, fat-smeared, rolled dough, closer to Turkish or Greek laminations, which is why the layers are ragged and shard-like rather than neat.
• Traditional bakeries use a firm white shortening because it stays solid while you roll and shatters in the oven; softened butter melts into the dough and the layers weld shut.
• Drain the ricotta hard. Wet ricotta steams inside the pastry, softening the base and leaking through the open ends.
• The two fillings are never mixed and are told apart by shape and by where the pastizzeria stacks them on the tray.

Substitutions

• No time to laminate: 500 g of bought all-butter puff pastry gives a decent home pastizz, but the flakes will be finer and more regular than the real thing.
• Fresh peas will not work for pizelli; you need dried split peas that break down into a starchy mash.

Variations

• Qassatat are the round, crimped cousins made with a shortcrust-style dough, filled with the same ricotta or peas.
• Modern pastizzerias also sell spinach and cheese, or mushroom, though purists count only irkotta and pizelli.

History

Diamond-shaped filo parcels of ricotta or mushy peas, sold from pastizzeriji and long the cheapest hot food on the islands.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pastizzi?

Pastizzi is a street food from Malta: flaky diamond pastries filled with ricotta or mushy peas. Diamond-shaped filo parcels of ricotta or mushy peas, sold from pastizzeriji and long the cheapest hot food on the islands.

How long does Pastizzi take to make?

Pastizzi takes 50 min of preparation and 2 hr resting, 45 min baking of cooking. The recipe makes 16 pastizzi (8 of each filling). It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Pastizzi?

Yes, within limits. No time to laminate: 500 g of bought all-butter puff pastry gives a decent home pastizz, but the flakes will be finer and more regular than the real thing. Fresh peas will not work for pizelli; you need dried split peas that break down into a starchy mash.

What is the most important thing to get right in Pastizzi?

Smear half the shortening over the whole sheet with your fingers, then roll it up from the long side into a tight rope. Stretch the rope gently and coil it into a snail. Repeat with the second piece. Chill both coils 1 hour.