Barbagiuan - street food for a street race

Ingredients

• 200g plain flour
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg, separated and beaten
• 50ml water
• A frying medium - I used a mix of olive oil and lard, vegetable oil is fine
• 30g finely chopped onion
• 30g leek (white part only, finely chopped)
• 2 Swiss chard leaves (green parts only, finely chopped)
• 50g fresh spinach, finely chopped
• A pinch of dried oregano
• 50g Ricotta cheese
• 30g freshly grated Parmesan (or whatever substitute you can afford)
• 50ml olive oil

Instructions

Preparing the pastry

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Add the 50ml of olive oil, half of the beaten egg white and blend with a fork. Set aside the rest of the egg white.
3. Add just enough water to bring the pastry together to form a firm dough.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
5. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, while you make the filling.

Preparing the filling

1. Heat a dash of olive oil and fry the onion and leek until golden.
2. Add the chard, spinach and oregano and fry until the chard is tender.
3. Transfer the contents to a mixing bowl and add the cheese (I'd recommend adding more cheese than I've written, another 10g of parmesan and another 5g of ricotta wouldn't go amiss).
4. Add in the remaining egg white to help bind the mix, season with salt and pepper.
5. Fetch more parmesan from the fridge because you're peckish and want a nibble.

Assembly

1. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to about 2mm thickness. The thinner the better.
2. Using a 6cm round pastry cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Rerolling the leftover pastry each time. I got 26 from mine and wasn't rolling especially thin.
3. Put a teaspoon of the filling into the middle of each pastry round and brush the edges with egg white and crimp shut.
4. You're basically looking to have a collection of miniature cornish pasties by the end point.
5. You can freeze the pastries as this point if you'd rather, or
6. Add your frying oil to a deep pan (at least 5 or 6cm) and heat to fry. About 180°C.
7. Pop the pastries into the hot oil in batches and fry until brown and crisp. This'll be about 5 minutes per batch.
8. Lift out with a slotted spoon and rest on a drying rack covered with kitchen towel.
9. Enjoy.

Recipe Notes

Getting that pastry as thin as possible is key. Best enjoyed with a glass of prosecco on a balcony overlooking the streets of Monte Carlo.

Recipe by

I did.