Smoked Fish Hand Pies by Walter Trupp

Small fish hand pies or larger pies make a wonderful snack or main meal for the family.  The pies are great hot but are nice cold too.  Once baked they will last in the fridge for up to a week and can be reheated. They also freeze well. This recipe comes directly from Walter Trupp at The Chefs Table, Enjoy!

Preparation

Estimated Preparation Time              25 minutes

Completion Time                                  45 minutes

Skill Level                                               medium

Serving Size                                            4

Equipment  :     Pastry brush, Pot or Pan, Pie Moulds, Spatula or Wooden Spoon, Pastry Cutters

Pastry cutters (you can cut the discs with a knife if no cutters are available)

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 large leek split in half, sand washed out and finely sliced
• 1 cup of cream
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ½ cup of chopped dill (or parsley or tarragon or chives or coriander green)
• 2/3 cup of macadamia nuts or cashew nuts or walnuts roughly chopped or broken or pine nuts
• 4 eggs
• 400 gm smoked cod or haddock cut into 1-2 cm large cubes (see notes of seafood)
• 4 sheets of store bought puff pastry (preferably butter puff pastry)
• 1-2 tablespoons of soft or melted butter or cooking oil to grease the moulds
• 1 egg whisked for egg wash to brush the pie

Method

• Heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius fan force
• Heat the butter in a pan
• Add the leek and cook under occasional stirring for 2-3 minutes
• Remove from the heat and add the cream
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add the herbs
• Add the nuts
• Add the eggs and stir together till the eggs are completely dissolved
• Grease the pie moulds with the remaining butter
• Cut a large circle with the help of a pastry cutter that is wide enough to cover all the mould and even sticks out by 2-3 mm on the top
• Cut a second circle that is large enough to fit comfortably as a lid for the top
• Repeat his process so you end up with 4 large circles for the bottom of the mould and 4 smaller lid circles for the lids
• Assemble the pie first using the bottom circles, the mixture and then then tops. See notes below
• Bake for about 25 minutes
• If making one large pie you will need to increase the cooking time by 10 minutes.