A Reverse Twist In The Pie

In the southern hemisphere, the wheel is slowly spinning towards the Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year. Although the nights are going to get shorter after the solstice, we still haven’t finished our cold, dark winter. The days may be getting longer but they are also getting colder. It is one of my favourite times of the year.

Last Winter Solstice I posted a recipe for Old World Libum. This Winter Solstice I am revisiting my Lammas recipe for a Tarte Soleil. I loved the way the twisting of the pastry made the pie look like a sun. For this recipe, the twisting is reversed. I thought it was an appropriate symbol for a waning Sun before its Winter Solstice rebirth.

These twisted pies are not only visually stunning and great fun but you can play around with ingredients to come up with your own concoctions. My twisted pie below is inspired by the flavours of a Sicilian cannoli.

Ricotta and Marmalade Twist

Ingredients
2 sheets frozen ready-rolled puff pastry
1/4 cup orange marmalade
3/4 cup ricotta
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon pine nuts
icing sugar for sprinkling

Method
Take pastry sheets out of the freezer to thaw.
Preheat oven to 200C / 400F.
Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cut pastry into two 23cm (9inch) rounds.
Carefully place one round on a baking tray.
Spread with marmalade, leaving a small margin around the outer edge.
Mix together the ricotta and vanilla extract. Spread over the marmalade.
Sprinkle the pine nuts over the ricotta.
Place the second pastry round over the first.
Press the outer edges together to seal.
If the pastry is getting too sticky to work with, refrigerate for 10 minutes or until it is easy to work with.
Cut a small disc from the centre.
With a sharp knife, cut the pastry into four sections, starting from the cut-out disc in the centre and working toward the outer edge, but not all the way through to the edge.
Cut each section into half and then cut in half again. You will have sixteen wedges.
Gently twist each wedge, starting at the centre and working outward. You can twist two to three times, but be careful not to break them.
Once twisted, bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until brown.
Sprinkle with icing sugar while hot.
Allow to cool slightly before removing from the baking paper. If it sticks, gently loosen it with a knife.
Serve warm or cold.

A Twist in the Pie

The first day of February in the Southern Hemisphere is Lammas, an ancient harvest festival that marks the mid-point between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox. Even though hotter days are still to come, Lammas marks the beginning of Autumn. Traditionally, breads baked from new crops were made as offerings to the gods. Back when I celebrated Lammas in a coven, I would always offer to make the bread for our ritual. I loved coming up with ideas and shapes for the loaves. As the ritual came to a close and we made our offerings of bread and wine, I felt blessed that I could provide for my coven and the Pagan deities I once believed in. I miss these simple rituals, and the Pagan deities I am slowing coming to believe in again.

To celebrate the first of the solar Pagan sabbats for 2016, I thought I would return to my roots and make a Lammas bread. I decided to try my hand at a French Sun Pie called a Tarte Soleil. A Tarte Soleil is a filled pastry that is twisted to represent the rays of the sun. They look complicated but they are actually easy to make – especially if you use store-bought puff pastry 🙂 All you need is patience, a steady hand and great ingredients. In fact, deciding what to fill my pie with was my biggest struggle.

As I was feeling nostalgic about past friends and covenors, I filled my first Tarte Soleil with peanut butter and strawberry jam – a tribute to all the wonderful American friends I’ve made. It was quite delicious and a lovely blend of sweet and salty. Emboldened by my success, I decided make another one. I really wanted to use sun-dried tomatoes to represent the sun but I can’t eat tomatoes so I didn’t want to make a lovely tart I couldn’t eat. That’s when I came up with an idea, I would make a feta and black olive filling and put sun-dried tomatoes in the inner circle only. That way I could at least eat the sun rays. Happily it was a tasty success and something I would be proud to bring to a Lammas gathering.

Tarte Soleil

Ingredients
2 sheets frozen ready rolled puff pastry
1 tablespoon finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup Danish feta cheese
1/3 cup whole Kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
1 egg, beaten
sea salt flakes for sprinkling

Instructions
Take pastry sheets out of the freezer to thaw according to the packet.
Preheat oven to 200C / 400F.
Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cut pastry into two 23cm (9inch) rounds.
Place one round on the baking tray.
Lightly mark a 7 – 8cm (3inch) sized circle in the centre, being careful not to cut right through the pastry.
Place sun-dried tomatoes in the small circle.
Crumble a small amount of feta cheese over the sun-dried tomatoes.
Crumble remaining feta over the rest of the round, leaving a small margin around the outer edge.
Top the feta with olives.
Top with the second pastry round.
Press the edges together to seal.
Place a 7 – 8cm (3inch) sized glass face down in the centre of the circle, being careful not to cut right through the pastry.
With a sharp knife, cut the pastry into four sections, starting at the edge of the glass and working outward. Cut each section into half and then cut into half again. You will now have sixteen sections which will form the rays of the sun.
Remove the glass.
Gently twist each section, starting at the centre and working outward. You can twist one-to-two times, but be careful not to break them.
Brush pastry with beaten egg.
Sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until brown.
Allow to cool slightly before gently sliding it off the baking paper and onto a serving plate. If the tart sticks, gently prise loose with a spatula.
Can be eaten warm or cold.

If you want to try the peanut butter and strawberry jam version simply follow the instructions above but replace the filling with a 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter and 1/4 cup strawberry jam.