These lovely pastries are my mum Noni’s recipe. Hers are so light and lovely that before you know it you have eaten the lot! In our house they are usually devoured fresh out of the oven, still warm.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 glass (200ml) of olive oil
- 3-4 cups (750g) of soft plain flour
- ‘Fanta’ fizzy orange
- a pinch of salt
For the filling
- 2 glasses (300g) of black olives, pitted and chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, finely chopped
- 2-3 red onions, finely chopped
- ground cinnamon
- freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas 4. Lightly oil, or flour two large flat baking sheets. Start by making the dough. Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl, adding enough fizzy orangeade to knead to a pliable dough. Leave to rest while you prepare the filling.
- In a bowl, mix together the olives, fennel and onion. Then season with a good pinch of cinnamon and freshly ground pepper. Now on a large lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a long rectangle the thinner the better. Scatter the olive mixture evenly over the dough. Tightly roll the dough up away from you, like a jam roly-poly. Use a very sharp knife to slice the roll into 2cm wide discs then carefully arrange onto the baking sheets, they won’t spread so can be placed close together. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.