Serves: 5
Approx cost: €5
Approx calories (per Brik): ~400
Approx preparation and cooking time: 45 mins
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #0B0B61;”] H owdy folks – I was going to go picking blackberries and sweet chestnuts this weekend. Going out on Sunday I was rather dismayed to see that both places I’d planned on going for my gathering activities were literally chock-full of people. They were either out enjoying the wonderful weather or they had the same idea of gathering as I did. Regardless, they were, unfortunately, there first, so I went on my merry way.
So, what did I do this weekend? Well, I tried my first proper set of time-lapse photography. As I don’t have an intervalometer to hook up to my camera I drove down to a nearby lake, hooked up my laptop to my camera and set it to take photos every 10 seconds. The result is … ok. Not something worth showing to anyone, but I can share with you one of the stills, taken just as the sun is about to set. When you have a several hundred photos it’s incredible to see just how much the sun moves, even in 10 seconds
As for the “adventure” – well, I was in a bit of a quandary. I wanted to post some sort of “adventure” related photos, but don’t really have any. So, I decided that for situations such as these I might as well post a few photos I’ve taken in the past of various places which may (or may not :D) be interesting, so I’ll start off with Parc de Bagatelle, just outside Paris (sorry, no English Wikipedia link available). I used to rent a (very, very) small studio apartment down the road from this lovely park when I was a student. It wasn’t until I’d been living there quite some time that I discovered it for the first time. It’s next to the “Bois de Boulogne” and has a small “château” inside but that’s far from the main attraction, which is of course the large, beautiful gardens. Lakes, large rock formations with waterfalls and a belvedere – a large hill with a spiral path going to the top. From the top you can see the park and also notice that even though you’re surrounded by peacefulness and tranquility the bustle of the city is not far away.
The park also has quite a large number of peacocks and peahens strutting around. I find the sound of peacocks very mournful – reminds me of childhood trips to a large country park – unfortunately it seems quite rare that the birds want to play along and put their feathers up, and of course when they do there is a flurry of attention from visitors, making it impossible to get any good photos! In these cases I was lucky to find a couple just resting in, and eating the grass. Armed with my zoom lens I was able to capture one of them just as he was trying to swallow a blade of grass the wrong way!
The park has a wonderful restaurant – I was lucky enough to go there recently for a brunch. It’s a very popular location for weddings and receptions so naturally they adapt their prices to match their popularity, but in the summer I can imagine it would make a lovely dinner location so you should definitely try and check this place out if you’re in the area! Behind the restaurant they have a building which is built to look like a small cottage – I’m not sure if it was ever used for anything in particular, but next to this there is a small “potager”, or kitchen garden. As per my last post the food grown here seems to mould away in the fall, but in the spring and summer it looks beautiful with many different fruits and vegetables being grown here. Past this they have a small set of steps into a hedged area which contains an oft-overlooked, but beautiful orchid garden. It’s nice to sit on one of the benches here and while away a few hours with a book or just sit and think!
So that’s the Parc de Bagatelle! Keep a look out for a little pathway carved through some rock which leads round to a seat behind a waterfall! I hope you liked the photos and I’ll try and have something more “fresh” for you next time! In case anyone wanted to download full size versions of any of these photos you can do so from my Downloads page. Now on to the recipe! Brik (pronounced “Breek”) are a Tunisian dish consisting of what is essentially “something”, wrapped in pastry. There are about as many different fillings as there are ways to fold the pastry, although the most common folding methods are either “small package”, “cigar shap” or “triangle”. You can make them sweet or savoury and they’re usually deep-fried, although you can shallow-fry them if you’re a bit nervous.
I’m making the recipe which my wife introduced me to here because, in my mind, it’s the best. I’ve had a few other types but this one has the ideal flavour in my mind. If you make these, be sure to leave at least one to try cold the next day. It might not sound tasty – especially since these are so delicious when they’re crispy and hot – but the next day, when cool, sure… they’re “soggy”, but they’re SO good! Enjoy 🙂
Ingredients
- 1 pack of “Warka” pastry (Brik pastry)
- 1 large tin Tuna in brine
- 4 tbsps Capers
- 4 eggs (2 boiled, 2 raw)
- 1 Onion
- 3 medium sized Potatoes, peeled and boiled
- 1 handful Parsley
- 1 bottle of Frying Oil (special or something like Peanut, or just Sunflower Oil)
Instructions
- Start by chopping up the boiled eggs, parsley, potatoes (into small chunks) and onion. Add to a bowl with the capers. Drain the tuna and add this in too, give a few good grinds of salt and pepper and then add in one of the raw eggs and mix well until everything is blended.
- I like to roll mine in a “sort of almost” cigar shape (that’s how I say I’m not very good at rolling them :D). I position about 2 or 3 tbsps of the mixture in a sausage shape towards the top of one of the sheets of brik pastry. Fold the closest edge down over the sausage tightly and roll it towards the bottom a few centimetres (just enough to seal the sausage in slightly).
- Fold over each edge as shown below and then continue rolling towards the bottom. Using the remaining raw egg, brush the last tailing bit of pastry before pressing it into the brik.
- Prepare all your brik and set aside on a plate while you heat up your pan of oil. Remember not to leave it unattended. I won’t be held responsible for any burning kitchens!
- When the oil is very hot (test it with a cube of bread… it should start to sizzle violently immediately upon touching the oil) carefully transfer in one or two brik. Be sure that the brik doesn’t unravel on entering the oil. Also make sure it doesn’t split into the oil or you’ll have a massive mess. Cook in batches and remove and allow to drain on kitchen paper when golden brown all over.
- Brik aren’t exactly the world’s healthiest food, so you’ll probably want to eat them with something both healthy, and fresh tasting, to offset the oiliness. I served them with a simple salad – you won’t need much more as they are also very filling. Enjoy!
Eva@ /kitcheninspira says
Charles, your photos of the peacock's head look great. Very blue! They look like a mean bird!
What an interesting pastry; of course I had to google it. They use it Morocco too! Even though I'm not a huge deep fryer, I will try this, in anticipation of our upcoming trip!
Charles says
Hi Eva – they can be a bit hissy and pecky but generally they just run away if they get too afraid. In the same park there was a swan sitting on the path trying to grab the ankles of everyone walking past and hissing angrily at them 😀 I hope you enjoy the brik (and can find the pastry) – if you prefer not to deep fry them then you can shallow fry them… you still need a bit more oil than normal for an ideal result – maybe 1cm or so in the pan should be fine. Good luck!
Eva@ kitcheninspirat says
Thanks Charles. We have Swans in High Park (a large park very close to my house). They are also quite aggressive!
Marianna says
Where do you buy this kind of pastry? I dont think i've seen it in the local stores. What is it made of?
And please use your old pictures as well, its very interesting to see how you live or used to live )
Charles says
Thanks Marianna – I'll be sure to post old photos – I've got a huge quantity of them… all sorts of photos of France, Sweden and so forth. Got some lovely shots of the Louvre at twilight. Maybe I'll do these next time 😀 As for the pastry… haha, well – I'm not surprised you've never seen it. I never saw it in England. France has a very large Arabic population so many Arabic products are easy to find here, luckily, because I love their food!! Looking up "warka" now it seems misleading to call it a pastry. It's actually a type of dry pancake or crêpe. Worst case scenario you could make a pancake, fill it and then deep-fry it 😀 If you like I could send you a pack of special brik "pastry" though – it's easy to get here 🙂
Marianna says
Ha! Lets exchange – I will send you smth Irish in return. I can't promise green beer and leprechauns, but maybe some fudge?…
Oooooor – I have an awesome idea for your blog – lets make a flashmob and start exchanging small food things between your readers. The condition could be that the item should be small, like 5euro top? And it should be local. Your readers will exchange items too, we could make up some rules to include as much ppl as possible.
Charles says
Sure thing – hit me up on chat at work 🙂 As for your idea…. actually I'd had a similar idea. I've got something planned – stay tuned 😀
Sissi says
Finally the real brik! They look fantastic! I think I have already told you I use the brik sheets at least once a week to make crunchy wraps filled with practically everything (ground meat and carrots are my favourite and the only ones I posted a long time ago), but always pan fried (or rather grilled) and I have never dared making the genuine deep-fried Tunisian recipe. I will definitely try yours very soon especially since all the ingredients are always in my kitchen and brik sheets always in the fridge.
The photos (especially the peacock!) are amazing. You are a very skilled photographer!
The story about the fruit picking people reminds me why when I was a child we used to leave at 4 am mushroom picking (to get there before the others!) and why you should never share the mushroom/wild fruit spots even with your best friend 😉
Charles says
Haha, your mushroom story reminded me of things that some Swedish friends told me. In Sweden in the summer they have beautiful berries – lingonberries, cloudberries and blueberries growing wild in the forest. I've heard many stories of people deciding to go out picking, only to find their spot of choice either already filled with people or picked bare, so if Swedes find a good spot for berries now they'll guard the location closely 😀
Thanks for the kind comments about my photos – I enjoy photographing wildlife – I wish I lived in a place where wildlife – wolves, elk etc were more prolific like in the north of Sweden. I'd waste a lot of my time trying to get "that perfect shot".
I hope you are able to try the brik – if you have some harissa then maybe add this in too! It will complement the tuna really well! I've only ever tried the warka for brik before – never for other things, although I want to experiment much more with them now 🙂
Kelly says
Your peacock photos are STUNNING – wow. I've got to get a real camera!! (course it would help if I had some photographic skill – ha-ha!). Whether or not you feel you had an adventure worthy of recounting, you know what they say, a picture paints a thousand words…and these really do. Beautiful Charles. I have never had brick before. They look incredibly tasty and satisfying – love the ingredients. I'm not sure I've come across brick pastry and wonder whether phyllo would be our closest substitute. That's what I would be inclined to use. (p.s. love the "sans mauvaises odeurs" that's great!).
Charles says
Thanks so much Kelly. When my friend lived in France here we used to go out so much and take photos. Since he moved away to Ireland I've really lost the motivation (and the skill) – I hope I can get it back again through my adventure posts, which is why I was rather upset to not have any original content this week. As I mentioned above, I looked it up and it seems misleading to call it pastry actually. It's actually more like a pancake, although I'm not sure how they're made. Hope you can find them! As for the oil – it's really good actually. Since I deep-fry a little more these days I figured I may as well get some proper frying oil and this stuff is amazing. You know how bad frying can be – stinky house afterwards, phew-ee, but this really has no smell. Unfortunately I wasted a whole bottle this time because a brik broke in the pan spewing out egg and tuna everywhere :p Not really the stuff I want to have in my oil next time I'm making a crisp doughnut or something :p
Kristy says
I've never heard of brik before…they look really delicious though! That brik pastry is super thin – I like that your photo captured that. And I think you rolled them rather nicely (not that I have anything to compare them too – but I think they look good). 🙂 I also like your selection of filling although I would be the only one to eat them here. No one else likes tuna. I might even be tempted to put a little cheese in there…is that doable with brik?
Charles says
Kristy – EVERYTHING is doable with brik! That's the wonderful thing about them. You don't need to add tuna. We've made them with ground beef and other bits and bobs before – I just happen to think this combination is the tastiest, but then I've only tried maybe 3 or 4 variants in my life 😀 Your idea of adding cheese just sounds super nom! Deep-fried cheese melt toastie type thing… omg 😀
I'm going to do something sweet with them next time I think – that should be fun!
Pure Complex says
Oh the peacocks coloring looks amazing. That blue is just so vibrant. Beautiful. Not onto this amazing meal. I learned a new meal today and may I say Brik sounds and looks delicious. The filling looks amazing.
Charles says
Thanks Kay – they really had a blue mirror-like shimmer to their feathers. Isn't nature beautiful? Hope you get to try the brik sometime! 🙂
Greg says
Wow, that's a new one for me. Looks tasty. Love the peacock photos, especially the close up.
Charles says
Cheers Greg – they're not exactly healthy, but they sure are good 😀
Malli says
The photos of the peacock look majestic and beautiful. Love the new look to ur page.
The Brik pastries look absolutely tempting and inviting. I love that almost all ethnic food has something similar that is stuffed with flavor, wrapped and fried. Be it eggrolls, Brik or Samosas they are delicious!!
Thnx for the Tunisian version
Charles says
Hi Malli, thank you, and it's true – and they're all delicious… eggrolls, samosas, I love them all. Something about the crisp shell and the wonderful flavours inside! Hope you have a chance to try these ones 🙂
Kankana says
lovely photos! I would love to enjoy that as a snack . I try making these with spring roll wrappers but they break apart! have to try again.
Charles says
Hi Kankana – is spring roll wrappers that very thin rice paper type stuff? (Like a damp rice paper)? Not sure if that will work as well, but if you have some success please let me know – I'm curious to know!
bakerbynature says
These look like they would be fun, and delicious to play around with. That peacock – while beautiful – does look like an angry one.
Charles says
Definitely a lot of fun to experiment with. I'm going to try make goat cheese and pears next time or something like that – yummy. Glad you liked the photos 🙂
A_Boleyn says
Another interesting dish I'd never heard of using a new ingredient. Fun times. 🙂
Charles says
hehe, thanks 🙂 Hope you get a chance to try them one day – they're really delicious!
Helen Smith says
Such a coincidence. Made Briks for dinner this evening myself for the very first time using a filling of creme fraiche, spinach, grated Parmesan and cubed Emmental cheese. I shallow fried half of them successfully. The great English cookery writer Delia Smith claims they are equally delicious baked, and she is absolutely right. I baked four in the oven and the result was delicious and of course much healthier and the house didn't smell like a fish and chip shop afterwards. Can vouch for the fact that Brik is much easier and tastier than Filo pastry. Where to get them in England may be a problem, but Waitrose is said to sell it.
Charles says
Nice tip about the oven baking, thanks! I'll give it a try next time – It's sure healthier than submerging into oil! The filling in your brik sounds great too! Wish I could have been there!
ping says
Lovely park, lovely pics, lovely bird and lovely briks! 😀 I say, they do remind me of our local Popiah where we sometimes have them unfried as well. I don't know what the Brik pastry is made of but it sure looks similar to the ones we use as well.
Interesting!
Charles says
Hi Ping – looking it up it actually seems to be more of a "crepe" than a pastry, which is then fried. It seems you can bake them successfully in the oven too, for a healthier alternative. Hope you get a chance to try them one day, they're really delicious!
ping says
Finally had some time to check it out and it does seem very similar to our popiah skin except that we don't have vinegar in the mix. The method is the same … smear dough on flat pan, lift and peel off layer.
This might be interesting to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfz7od7bpos&no…
Charles says
Oh, nice – thanks a lot! I'll take a look 🙂 Maybe next time I'll make the whole thing myself! 😀