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.
Pastetli (Swiss Vol-au-Vent) Discover more delicious Swiss dishes on my small group food & wine tour of Switzerland! 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 […]
Mushroom & Cheese Pies Like this recipe? You’ll love my online British cooking class! Thanks to chef Simon Sandall who rattled off this suggestion on the spur of the moment when we were making salmon Wellington together and wondering what to do with leftover mushroom duxelles and pastry off-cuts. You could always make the duxelles […]
Spungata (Ligurian Apricot Tart) Join one of my food & wine tours to Italy to discover more Italian regional specialties! This delicious fruit tart, called spungata in Liguria and spongata in neighbouring Emilia-Romagna, is similar to what other Italian regions call a crostata. In Liguria, a spungata is often given as a gift when visiting […]
Potato & Fontina Tart with Smoked Eel Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Northern Italian cooking class inspired by Alessandro Pavoni! This deliciously versatile potato & fontina tart can be vegetarian, but potatoes and smoked fish are such natural partners that I like to add hot-smoked trout or eel. If Fontina’s not available, use […]
Guinea Fowl Bisteeya Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Middle Eastern cooking class inspired by Michael Rantissi! 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. […]
Tarte Tatin Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class Inspired by Damien Pignolet! 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 […]
Greek Leek & Cheese Pie (Prasopita) Like this recipe? You’ll love my online Greek cooking class Inspired by Janni Kyritsis! I’ve always loved Greek pies like spanakopita (spinach and cheese), tiropita (cheese) and hortopita (wild weeds – see video below). Then I discovered this Greek leek and cheese pie, which might just be the most […]
Bacon & Egg Pie Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class Inspired by Janni Kyritsis! Bacon and egg pie is perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner and – as it’s great served at room temperature – it makes ideal picnic fare. Best of all, the ingredients will be on hand in a well-stocked […]
Orange & Almond Impossible Pie Like this recipe? You’ll love my online cooking class featuring the food of America’s Deep South! Impossible pie is so named because all the ingredients are mixed together in one bowl and then ‘miraculously’ separate into three layers in the oven, giving a soft pie base, a creamy custard filling […]
Apple and Almond Pies Like this recipe? You’ll love my online French cooking class featuring the food of Provence! These simple apple and almond pies looks impressive because of the plaited pastry (a trick I learnt years ago from an Australian Women’s Weekly cookbook), but are quick and easy and can be assembled up to […]