Nanna's Elusive Tuna Pie

Some of my favorite meals by Nanna were the savory ones with curry in it. I always thought that her tuna pie had curry in it. I tried to find evidence of this on the world wide web to no avail. Tell me if I'm wrong, but my theory is that she derived this recipe by combining the toppings of hobs biz zejt with pizelli pastry filling into a pie form.

hobs biz zeit - an open faced sandwich with tomato paste, olive oil, and tuna
pizelli - a flaky pastry filled with peas, onions and curry

This is an unofficial attempt at making her tuna pie (primarily an attempt to practice food photographing at my own pace).

She would lovingly send these pies home with Justin after his visits. While we were dating, if I were to peek into his freezer, I would see one or two of them huddled by the icebox.

For the crust, I used Williams Sonoma's Savory Tart Dough in a tart tin instead of a pie one.

Please note: Additional deviations are in red.

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Tuna Pie

9-inch pie crust
Egg beaten with a tsp of water
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, diced
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp curry powder
5 green olives, sliced
2 cans (5 oz) tuna
1 can (14 oz) peas
salt
pepper
2 fresh plum tomatos, sliced

Heat large saucepan and add olive oil. Add diced onion and garlic. Cook until tender. Add tomato paste, curry, olives, flaked tuna, peas and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Place pie dough on 9-inch pie plate. Add filling and top with pie dough. Brush crust with beaten egg and water. Bake about 35-40 minutes.

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Debrief:

Justin - more olives; more tuna; less peas
Thao - add 1/2 more dough; use only 2/3 can of peas; try 1/2 cup of tomato puree