Whole Wheat Fennel Greens Pies (Marathopites)

One of the most emblematic and favorite dishes of the Cretan diet is fennel pies. Today I have for you a variation of them, whole meal oven-baked  fennel greens pies, marathopites.

A few days ago, Kalliopi, aka Madame Gâteaux , had a wonderful idea: to organize a gathering at her beautiful garden to present to you 1-2 of our recipes. I accepted immediately, firstly because I appreciate Kalliopi very much as a person, but also because I really like her work. She has her own style and taste and a lot of meraki.

Athina, aka Blissbuzz,   was the third one of the party, so you understand that I would not miss it. She and I have a lot in common, especially in terms of how we view healthy eating and cooking.

Recipes for “Greek Brunch”

The theme of the recipes we decided to work on was “Greek Brunch”. It is a very interesting topic, because in Greece we usually brunch with foreign recipes, which are of course very tasty and delicious.  But we must always keep in mind that our Greek traditional recipes (or some variations of them) can be a perfect match, even in brunch cooking!

I must definitely talk to you about Madame Gâteaux tearoom! Besides, you can visit the place. It is a tearoom, with vintage decoration of the middle of the 20th century. Making a reservation for afternoon tea there, you will experience a complete vintage experience. As for the lush garden, it is a beauty! Besides, it can be seen in the photos.

But let’s talk about recipes 🙂 My suggestions for the “Greek Brunch” are these whole wheat fennel greens pies and individual tarts inspired by the Sifnos melopita, which I will share in the next post.

Kalliopi prepared a crustless spinach pie, semolina halva with milk chocolate ganache and a brunch board with a variety of yogurts, fresh fruit, fig jam and homemade granola.

Athina made cheesecake with anthotiro and grape must cookies, emmer bread sandwiches with roasted zucchini and manouri, and 3 different smoothies with almond mylk.

All the photos taken by Konstantinos Tzemis are so good that I didn’t know which one to choose. But, how else I could show you all the goodies we enjoyed and what a fun this party was! 😉

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Whole Wheat Fennel Greens Pies (Marathopites)

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breakfast, snack, pies, light meal – greek, cretan, mediterranean

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 1 hour – Cooking Time: 20 minutes – Total Time: 1 hour & 20 min

The famous Cretan fennel greens pies (marathopites) in a healthier variation: made whole wheat and oven-baked.

Ingredients

• dough:
• 6gr. dry yeast
• 260gr. lukewarm water
• a pinch of salt
• ¾ tbsp honey, or, maple syrup
• 300gr. all purpose flour
• 100gr. wholemeal all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• filling:
• 100gr. fennel leaves, coarsely chopped (not the stalks)
• 120gr. tender spinach leaves, or baby spinach, coarsely chopped
• 3-4 spring onions, finely chopped *
• salt, pepper
• a bit more olive oil

Instructions

1

In a small bowl, mix water, yeast and honey. Let it foam for 5-10 minutes.

2

Mix the two flours in a bowl with the salt. Add the yeast mixture and olive oil. Knead until you have an elastic dough. Cut it into 12 equal pieces and place them in a lightly oiled pan. Cover them with a clean towel and leave them in a warm place, to rest and almost double in size.

3

Meanwhile, sauté the onions in a bit of olive oil until soften. Put aside.

4

Roll out a piece of dough into a thin round tray. Put on it a few fennel leaves, a little spinach, a few sautéed onions, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with olive oil. Open another piece of dough in a thin round tray and place it on the pie. Wet the edges of the dough with water to seal the pie, making sure the air comes out. If you want to create a thin bead, otherwise just seal the sheet. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.

5

Coat the pies with a bit of olive oil and bake in a preheated oven, at 180o C, for 20-25 minutes.

Notes

*You may use 1 leek instead.

If you want more healthy pies (pites) recipes, click here.

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