Pies and tarts, sweet and savoury, are comfort food and so versatile. Pot pies don’t require a pastry base, just a crisp lid and shepherd’s pie don’t need any pastry at all. Pies and tarts are a great way to let your inspiration run free and use up whatever you have on hand to make a deliciously comforting meal.
Salmon Wellington Traditional beef Wellington is a series of parcels – beef wrapped in mushroom, wrapped in crêpe, wrapped in pastry – and the method can easily be adapted to other proteins, especially salmon which looks very pretty with its orange flesh contrasting against the golden pastry. When making salmon Wellington there’s no need to […]
Salmon Bisteeya Bisteeya is a classic Moroccan pie, traditionally made with pigeon and other poultry. It lends itself beautifully to seafood too, especially gorgeous pink salmon – and a seafood version is even quicker and easier to make as there’s no need to poach the fish before assembling the pie. Traditionally the egg is scrambled […]
Seafood Pot Pies I love pot pies as there’s no pastry base to fiddle around blind baking, just a flaky golden pastry lid. You can bake them in a ramekin, ovenproof bowl or soufflé dish and fill them with virtually anything you like so, with a roll of Carême sour cream shortcrust pastry in the […]
Swiss Pastetli(Vol-au-Vent) In Switzerland, pastete means pie and in Swiss adding an “i” to the end of a word forms a diminutive – so a small pie is a pastetli. Pastetli in Switzerland are what we know by the French name vol-au-vent, and they’re a delicious starter or light meal with a salad (pictured with […]
Mushroom & Cheese Pies Thanks to chef Simon Sandall who rattled off this suggestion on the spur of the moment when we were making beef Wellington together and wondering what to do with leftover mushroom duxelles and pastry off-cuts. You could always make the duxelles specifically for these pies and whip up a larger batch […]
Spungata (Ligurian Apricot Tart) This delicious fruit tart, called spungata in Liguria and spongata in neighbouring Emilia-Romagna, is similar to what other Italian regions call crostata. In Liguria spungata are often given as a gift when visiting friends and family. Apricots are a common filling, but it’s also made with apples, pears and other fruits; […]
Savoury Künefe I love the flavours in the pasirma börek in our Month of Turkish and am impressed by how deliciously easy the sweet kunefe is. So I wondered what would happen if we combined them. Here’s the answer: a simple, crunchy, messy, delicious savoury kunefe! Be inspired to vary the filling – as long […]
Potato, Smoked Eel & Fontina Tart This deliciously versatile potato & fontina tart can be vegetarian, but potatoes and smoked fish are such natural partners that I sometimes add smoked eel. Hot-smoked rainbow trout also works; either way use about 300g flesh if using seafood. If Fontina’s not available, use any mild washed rind cheese, […]
Guinea Fowl Bisteeya Variously written as bisteeya, bastilla, bestela, bastila, pastilla or pastila, this Moroccan pie has many variations but is traditionally an elaborately spiced preparation of pigeon, egg, almonds and warqa pastry, which is similar to Greek fillo pastry. It works well with almost any birds, including quail, chicken and guinea fowl, and is […]
Tarte Tatin Tarte Tatin is one of those classics that I didn’t attempt for a long time for fear it would be too tricky. Turns out it’s super quick and easy, especially if you use a good ready-made shortcrust pastry like Carême. It’s named after the Tatin sisters, Caroline and Stéphanie, who served it at […]
