Foraged Savory Parcels

Here is a recipe for foraged savory parcels from a class I co-taught at Lyman Orchards the fall of 2024 with my friend Amy at the CTforaging Club. We made this recipe together for the class and Amy was kind enough to help film this recipe being created.

Making the Pastry Dough

Make the Pastry 

-500g all purpose flour 

-175 ml water

-1 tsp salt 

-25g maple syrup

1-Mix all ingredients together until a stiff dough forms and you can barely knead it. Let rest in the fridge for 30-45 mins.

Meanwhile Make the Filling 

2-In a large frying pan, add enough oil to really coat the bottom of the pan and heat it gently. Then add in your seasonings and spices, for this recipe today we used:

-A pinch of fennel seeds, 

-A large pinch of cumin seeds,

-A little coriander seed,

-A little bit of strong crushed red pepper flakes, 

-A heaping tsp each thyme, oregano, sweet fern leaves, 

-A large pinch of dried staghorn sumac,

-A few shavings of whole nutmeg,

-A little dried mugwort flower,

-A few crushed spicebush berries,

-A pinch of fenugreek,

-Several bulbs of preserved wild garlic,

-A large dollop of Fermented Ramp Leaves,

-A small pinch of fermented spruce needles,

-A small pinch of fermented garlic mustard flower heads,

Wild Seasonings Toasting in a Pan.

3-Chop 2 containers of white button mushrooms; then Increase the heat on the frying pan and add in the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Saute the mushrooms until they have given up almost all of their water, reduced by half and turned nice and brown.  

4-Add in 3 to 4 cups of chopped wild greens, I used Bitter Swinecress, Garlic Mustard and Alehoof. Cook down the greens until they have reduced in volume by 75% or so. While the greens are cooking add in 2 tablespoons of Beach Plum Vinegar. 

5-Leave the filling to cool and check on the dough. The dough should be firm but not so firm it cracks when you knead it. Add a little water if necessary. 

6-Once the filling is cool, squeeze out the water over a sieve. And try to reduce the volume of the filing by half by squeezing out liquid. 

Squeezing the Liquid Out.

7-Add about ¾ of c of chopped medium cheddar cheese, add a 1/4c grated parmesan cheese. Mix the filling. Taste to see if it is correctly seasoned. 

8-Beat 2 eggs in a bowl with some salt and black pepper, and then mix them into the bowl with the filling. 

9-Roll out the phyllo pastry. You should use a pasta machine if at all possible because it will make rolling out the dough much simpler. 

10-Once the dough is rolled to the thinnest setting of the pasta machine. Grease it with lard or butter or ghee. Then grease your hands with the fat and gently stretch the phyllo dough until it's thin enough that you can read a newspaper through it. 

11-Once the phyllo is thin enough, wrap up a generous teaspoon of filling in the dough. I made triangular shapes but you can wrap it however you like. Repeat until you run out of filling.

12-Place the formed pastries on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and brush a little ghee on the top of each. Sprinkle a little salt. Bake at 425 until golden brown, 20-30 mins depending on your oven. If you are using more than one sheet pan be sure to rotate them half way through the bake for even browning. 

Pastries Coming Out of the Oven.

13-Cool the pastries on a rack and serve warm.