'TIELLE' (OCTOPUS PIE) FROM SETE

Tradition has it that the fishermen of Gaeta, north of Naples, brought this recipe for octopus pie with them when they came to settle in Sète.

Adrienne Virduci was the first person to produce and sell 'tielle sétoise'. This expertise has been handed down to the Dacé and Cianni families, who preserve the tradition.

RECIPE FOR ‘TIELLE’

INGREDIENTS FOR 6 PEOPLE:

1kg of flour,
1kg octopus,
250 grams of tomato purée
garlic and parsley,
1 bay leaf,
a little chilli pepper,
1 onion,
1 glass of white wine.

METHOD:

- The dough: make a simple bread dough with flour, water and a pinch of yeast.
- Make the filling: cook the octopus in a court bouillon.

Meanwhile, brown the sliced onion in a pan, add the garlic, parsley and tomato purée.
Fry for a minute or two, add the white wine and a little water, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.
When the octopus is cooked, clean it with running water and cut into quite large chunks.
When the sauce had reduced slightly, add the octopus, a bay leaf and a little chilli pepper and cook for about fifteen minutes to get to a fairly thick consistency to fill the pie.
Roll out the dough into a large rectangle and cut out two circles 30cm in diameter.
Place the first circle in a 28cm pie dish and top with the filling, then use the second piece to form a lid, being careful to seal the edges well with a little water.

There is a traditional way of sealing the edges of a tielle: Using a knife, make 2-3cm incisions all around the edge of the pie, every 2cm, then pinch in the strips of dough.
Brush the top with a little oil and bake for about 15 minutes at gas mark 7.
Remove the tielle when it has taken on a beautiful orange-yellow colour.