Prawn & smoked salmon hand pies

I never  used to be much of a pie fan. Well, actually that’s not entirely true- I still maintain a feeling of complete disgust for the kind you buy in prepackaged the supermarket. The one’s where the pastry is dry tastes like cardboard and the filling tastes stodgy and salty. You can keep those kind of pies to yourself. Occasionally my mother made cheese & onion pasties when we were growing up- the problem was I had a severe dislike for onions and by the time I had laboriously picked out each little piece and shoved it to the side of my plate I was left with an unappetising blob of cold sweaty cheese and a crumbled pastry shell. I recall spending a lot of my youth, dissecting my food in order to weed out those sneaky onions- oh how times have changed. So flash forward sixteen years and here I am fond of both onions and pies- and funnily enough there’s never any reason to scold me for leaving food on my plate either.

I have a great pie cookbook, which I refer to often- Angela Boggiano’s Pie book. Flicking through the pages for inspiration I drool over the beautiful photographs until I find one that includes some if not all of the contents of my fridge. I must confess, I often ignore her directing me to make my own pastry- sometimes I just can’t get my act together in time to allow for that. It is of course worth it if you have the time, but lets be honest, most of us struggle to find time to put together a twenty minute meal- so I think cheating on the pastry is forgivable. But if you start cheating with jars of already minced garlic and bottles of lemon juice then we’re going to have a few problems, you and I.

This recipe uses store bought puff pastry- if you can buy it pre-rolled you’ll be even better off. Just try to find one that uses all butter rather than a percentage of lard or vegetable fat- it will be better for you and it will taste better too. If you decide to make your own, make a quick flaky pastry- going to the effort of making puff pastry from scratch is not necessary and would frankly just be showing off. Besides, you’ll have enough to gloat about when you take these golden pies out of the oven. The filling is an adaptation because I had a whole bag of prawns but not enough smoked salmon, I didn’t have mascarpone but I did have crème fraîche, I didn’t have dill but I did have parsley, and then once I baked a couple off I realised they could do with a little kick of lemon, capers and dijon- hey why not.  And so they were born- the yummiest little hand pies I ever did have the fortune to eat. The filling is every so slightly creamy but full of freshness from the lemon, capers and parsley. They reminded me a little of prawns cooked in butter and garlic- only instead of the bread to soak up the juices you have the pastry shell. I love the way it goes a teency bit soggy as it absorbs the juices but stays crispy on the outside. I can’t lie, these are sort of posh pies- the ingredients aren’t the kind that you’ll find on sale very often. But aren’t you worth treating once in a while? I think so.

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Prawn & smoked salmon hand piesThis recipe is adapted from Angela Bogginano’s Pie book. They are perfect for making in advance and freezing before baking. Feel free to play with the ratios of salmon to shrimp.

Makes: 12 hand pies
Diet facts: if you’re eating pies on a diet then you’re not going to get very far

375g/13oz peeled and deveined prawns ( aka shrimp. any size is fine as you will chop them)
55g/ 2 oz smoked salmon (scraps are fine)
Zest 1 lemon, plus 2 Tbsp juice
1 garlic clove
25g/1 oz parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp drained capers
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley
2 tsp dijon mustard
110g/4 oz crème fraîche
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
500g puff pastry
flour for dusting
1 egg

Prep work
Chop the prawns into small pieces. • Chop the smoked salmon into small pieces. • Finely zest the lemon and squeeze the juice so that you have 2 Tbsp. • Peel and finely mince the garlic. • Finely grate the parmesan cheese (a Microplane is best). • Rinse and chop the capers. • Finely chop the flat leaf parsley so that you have roughly 2 Tbsp. • Lightly beat the egg.

How to make

1/ Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Fold together all of the ingredients except for the puff pastry, flour and egg until completely combined. Set aside.

2/ Lightly flour a large flat surface and roll the puff pastry until it’s about the thickness of a 10p coin (or a quarter). You can do this in batches if you find it easier. Move the pastry a 1/4 turn every few rolls to make sure that the pastry is not sticking. Dust with more flour if you need to. Cut out 12 rounds using a cutter that is between 3 3/4- 4 1/4 inches in diameter. Then cut out 12 smaller rounds using a cutter that’s between 2 3/4 and 3 1/4 inches in diameter. The idea is that you have smaller bottoms and bigger tops for the pies. If you need to re-roll out some of the pastry avoid kneading the dough back together, instead lay the scraps on top of each other and then re-roll.

3/ Place 2 rounded Tablespoons full of mixture in the middle of each of the small circles. Brush the outside with the beaten egg. Drape the larger circles over the filling and squeeze the two together to seal. You can also seal them going around the edge gently pressing with the underside of a fork. Place them on a baking tray and brush with the remaining egg.

4/ Put a small slit into the top of each pie using a small sharp knife then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until puffy and golden. Serve hot, warm or cold.

Tagged as: A recipe, pies, prawn & smoked salmon hand pies, smoked salmon