Celeriac Feta Pies

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Ingredients

Pastry:

Filling:

• 1 large celeriac, approx.. 700 g celeriac (about 500 g peeled)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 3 tbsp pickled jalapeno slices (to taste)
• 1 tsp zaatar (optional)

Sauce (optional):

• Celeriac peels (approx. 200 g)
• 1 small cooking onion
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• ¼ cup red wine
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• Salt & pepper

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Method

1. In medium-size bowl, mix flour, salt and zaatar. Cut butter into 1 cm cubes. Add to bowl and coat all butter pieces with flour. This prevents butter from melting in contact with your hands. Divide butter pieces into smaller parts until they are less than pea-size. Work fast so butter doesn’t melt.
2. Add cold water and mix until dough comes together but still has visible pieces of butter. Shape it into a roll, cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for 20 minutes or until butter solidifies.
3. Meanwhile, work on pie filling. Peel celeriac and cut into 5 or 6 slices of 1 cm each. Heat oil in large pan and cook celeriac slices on medium heat for about 3 minutes on each side to caramelize and bring out nutty flavour. Season with salt and pepper and leave aside to cool down to room temperature.
4. Take out pastry dough from fridge and divide into as many pieces as your celeriac slices. Make sure pastry amount is proportional with size of celeriac slices (top and bottom celeriac slices will be smaller).
5. Heat oven to 200 C.
6. On lightly floured surface roll out each piece of dough at least 4 cm wider than slice of celeriac for filling. Place celeriac in center. Sprinkle with zaatar and top with crumbled feta and jalapeno slices. Fold dough on top making pleads in same direction; pinch together in the center.
7. Place pies on tray lined with parchment paper. Brush with egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Place in pre-heated oven. After 15 minutes decrease temperature to 175 C and continue baking for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
8. You can use celeriac peels for an earthy bitter-sweet sauce to serve with the pies or just to make veggie stock. If you decide to make the sauce here is how it goes: Heat up oil in a medium pan or thick-bottom pot. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes until soft and translucent. Add celeriac peels and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes to caramelize on all sides and turn golden brown. Deglaze with wine and cook until liquid evaporates. Add one cup water or veggie stock, season with salt and pepper, cover with lid and cook on medium-low heat for 20 minutes. Strain and discard solid pieces or just save for next batch of veggie stock. Return sauce to stove until it reaches boiling point. Turn off heat, add butter and balsamic vinegar. Check and adjust seasoning. Serve warm on top of pies.

Tips and Variations

You can make the pastry the day before and refrigerate until ready to use. You can substitute spelt with all purpose flour. There is nothing like fresh pastry but if you don’t have time for it you can use frozen pre-made puff-pastry instead.

If you want to make the pies ahead of time, freeze before baking and before brushing with egg yolk. You can bake them from frozen adding 5-10 more minutes at 190C.

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