Eye on the Pie

On the weekend I was on a mission to use up a whole lot of bits and pieces that I had in the fridge and freezer - a couple of sheets of pastry, some eggs, a few slices of bacon and proscuitto, a handful of cheese, a tomato, some parsley. I am actively trying to eliminate food wastage and also reduce what I purchase, so using up leftovers and random bits and pieces has become all the rage in my house. A few days ago I came up with a good way to do this with yummy breakfast pies - a nice change from a normal weekend cooked breakfast. This recipe would also be an ideal picnic or brunch dish. You could easily make these ahead and just reheat them before serving, or even eat them cold. This recipe makes six individual pies - you could of course make a large one if you wanted to.

These pies are meant to be home style and rustic - I personally didn't bother getting them all perfect. It was meant to a relaxed Sunday breakfast after all and I was hungry and eager to get them cooked and on the plate as soon as possible. My partner Andrew polished off the leftover pies for lunch the next day, so there was definitely no waste here!

Bacon, egg and proscuitto breakfast pies

You will need: 2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry, 4 slices bacon chopped roughly, 4 slices proscuitto chopped roughly, 1 cup finely chopped spring onion, 1 large tomato diced finely, splash of olive oil, 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used mozzerella), 6 eggs, 1 tablespoon water, 2 tablespoons chopped continental parsley, pepper and salt.

Method: Preheat the oven to about 200C.

Heat a pan and cook the bacon for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the spring onions, tomato and proscuitto and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, water and season very generously with salt and pepper. Se aside.

Grease six individual pie tins. Cut each piece of pastry into four, leaving you with eight smaller squares. Line the six tins with the pastry. Use any leftover pastry to fill any gaps or to make extra edges (see the picture above) The extra edges will give you more puffy, crispy bits to tear at!

Prick the bottom of the tins in a couple of places. Place the filling evenly in the bottom of each pie.
Now sprinkle over the cheese and pour the egg mixture into the pie bases.

Finish with some pepper and the parsley. Bake for about 25 minutes until puffed and golden (be sure they are cooked on the bottom) If the bases are a bit soft, just remove them from the tins and let them bake for 5 minutes on a baking tray so that they crisp up.

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Cheeky Tart!!!

"The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts all on a summer's day;

The Knave of Hearts he stole the tarts and took them clean away"

Ok, so I'm not the Queen of Hearts and it isn't a summer's day (in fact it's bloody freezing!) but I have been baking tarts today. I headed into the kitchen this morning to make something to take to work for lunch this week and whilst I was waiting for that to cook, I decided to bake some tarts to use up some spare puff pastry that was taking up space in my freezer. I really didn't fancy the thought of leaving the house to go food shopping, so I hunted around in the pantry for inspiration, determined that there must be some kind of filling I had ingredients for. Well, turns out that I found a little more inspiration than I bargained for, and the result was six different kinds of tarts (although they all start with the same basic beginnings)

I was going for a rustic, free form style with these tarts - no pie tins or cutting out baking paper or blind baking or any of that kind of carry on! I love that every one is different and that they aren't perfect. You could eat them like a pastry with a cup of tea, or serve them as a dessert, warm with a dusting of icing sugar and some cream or a good quality icecream.

My six fillings were: almond and walnut , strawberry, fig, orange, apple and mixed berries. All I did was to place the various ingredients on the top of the tarts. None of the toppings were pre cooked. The figs and oranges are the glace kind (these came from the wonderful Pomona Fruits - best glace fruit ever! http://www.pomonafruits.com.au/ ) The apple and the strawberries were just sliced thinly raw, and the berries were just a handful of the frozen kind I had in the freezer. I sprinkled a little bit of castor sugar on the berries and the strawberries before putting them in the oven and when the tarts were cooked I brushed them all with maple syrup when they were still warm to give them a glaze.

I have given the basic tart recipe below, but go with any topping you fancy - I came up with six just based on what I had in the pantry today - the possibilities are endless. The filling is a simple almond based one that isn't overly sweet.

And here is today's tart selection - my recipe makes 16 tarts

You will need: 4 sheets puff pastry, 200g almond meal, 1 egg, 1/2 cup cater sugar, 100g butter, 1/3 cup maple syrup and whatever topping/s you have chosen.

Method: Melt the butter and combine with the almond meal, sugar and the egg. Set this aside. Cut the pastry into 4 rounds for each sheet (this will make 16 tarts) I used a small upturned rice bowl as a cutting guide.

Spoon the almond mixture onto the pastry and spread it out so it almost comes to the edge. Add your chosen topping. Fold/pinch the edges of the tarts the whole way around. Chill the tarts in the fridge for 15mins.

Bake in a moderate oven for 15-20 mins or until puffed and golden brown. When you take them out of the oven, brush them with maple syrup to form a light glaze.

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Seductive Seafood - Barramundi, Prawn and Scallop Pie

Inspired by the chilly weather and MasterChef's pie challenge earlier in the week, I decided to whip up a lovely seafood pie for dinner tonight. The advantage of seafood is that it cooks so fast, so you can have it on the table in the shake of a lamb's (or should that be fish's) tail. I used Barramundi, Prawns and Scallops for this pie, but you could use just fish, or go the other way and add other seafood like mussels and clams. I decided to take the whole fish theme a bit further and used fish scales as the visual inspiration for the pastry crust. I cut out the puff pastry using an eggcup and just layered each circle, overlapping each other for a fish scale effect. If you can't be bothered cutting out "scales", just lay a pastry sheet right over the top, as you would a normal pie. I know that strictly speaking, your pie filling should really be cool before adding the pastry top, but I was in a hurry (MasterChef was starting in 10 minutes!) so I whacked the filling into the fridge to cool a bit before moving to the pastry step.

The filling of the pie is very flavoursome and suprisingly aromatic, through the addition of fennel, herbs, wine and Dijon mustard. Yum! I chose to make a large pie, but this would work beautifully as small, individual pies. So, seafood lovers, here we go......

Barramundi, Prawn and Scallop Pie

You will need: 2 sheets puff pastry, 200g scallops, 6 large prawns, 1 large barramundi fillet, 2 medium potatoes cooked and diced. (The potatoes should still be a little firm to touch and not too soft), Splash of olive oil, 1 brown onion finely chopped, 1 cup finely diced fennel, Half cup finely diced celery, 2 cloves chopped garlic, 1 cup white wine, 2 tablespoons each parsley and chives, 2 tablespoons salted butter, One and a half tablespoons plain flour, 3 cups milk, 3 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon grated parmesan, 1 egg lightly beaten, salt and pepper to taste.

Method: Chop the barramundi into chunks and make sure there are no bones remaining in it. Set aside with the other seafood. Heat a pan and add a splash of olive oil. add the onion, fennel, garlic and celery and cook until starting to get transparent. Don't let it brown. Add the garlic and potatoes and cook for another minute. Add the seafood and then the wine, stirring gently. The wine should bubble up quite vigorously. As soon as the seafood looks half cooked, remove from the heat and set aside. This will happen fast, so watch the seafood and don't overcook it.

In a seperate pan, melt the butter, and when it starts to foam, add the plain flour. Stir it in well, to make a roux. I use a whisk for this - it means you can remove any lumps that might appear in the sauce quickly and easily. Let the roux cook for a minute or two (you want to cook the flour well, but be careful not to let it brown. If it does, start again!) Add half of the milk and whisk quickly and thoroughly. Keep whisking and gradually add the rest of the milk. Dont be insipid with your whisking - put your back into it - you don't want lumps!

Let the sauce cook for a few minutes, until it thickens and easily coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the mustard, salt and pepper to taste and the parmesan. Add the seafood mixture you set aside to the sauce, along with the chives and parsley. Stir it through gently and then pour into a pie dish or open casserole dish. Put it in the fridge to cool off while you organise the pastry. (You could make the pie to this step the day before if you wanted to, so the filling is completely cold, but I was impatient and did it all at once)

Using an egg cup as a cutter (or if you have a real cutter about that size, well, aren't you just the cheffy type!? - use that) cut out 2 sheets of circles that will make "scales". Lay the circles over the top of the pie filling, overlapping to resemble fish scales. Brush with the beaten egg and bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Let the pie sit for 10 minutes before serving. If you can wait that long!

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