Salmon pie

The supermarket that I shop at (Albert Heijn) publishes a monthly magazine with recipes. I always skim through it quickly noting that it has some interesting recipes. The good thing about this magazine is that the recipes inside it are seasonal, so you can find all the required ingredients easily. The bad thing about it is that it's written in Dutch, although by now I'm becoming an expert in following recipes written in Dutch! Luckily I have 2 translators very handy: my boyfriend and Google's Translate!

This recipe was taken from the April 2010 Allerhande magazine. It's a salmon pie, shaped like a fish. The shape was what caught my attention!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• pastry for pie
• 600g salmon fillet
• 125ml sour cream
• 1 tbs mustard
• 15g fresh dille finely cut
• 1 shallot/onion
• 1 egg slightly whisked
• 2 cucumbers
• 100g butter
• pepper
  
• baking paper
  

Method

1. Heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut the pastry so that it's 8cm longer than the fillet
3. Place the fillet on the pastry.



4. Mix the sour cream, mustard, pepper and dill together.



5. Chop the shallot and add to mixture.
6. Cover the fish fillet with the mixture.



7. Add egg to the borders of the pastry.
8. Cover the pie with another layer of pastry.
9. If you have patience shape in a fish shape.
10. Cover the pastry with egg.



11. Put in oven for around 20 minutes.



12. Remove the seeds from the cucumbers and cut into thin slices.
13. Boil some water, take away from heat and add cucumbers for 4 minutes.
14. Melt the butter in a pan and add the cucumbers for around 5 minutes

The paste used in this recipe can be used on top of other fish dishes.

Meat pie (Traditional Maltese)

This meat pie is one of my favourite dishes. Pies do involve quite some work to make, however you can prepare large portions which can be stored in the fridge and warmed again when required.

On my last dinner party I prepared the pies in one person bowls. The outcome was delicious and my in-laws did approve!

Ingredients

• Puff pastry (Ghagina sfiljurata)
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• curry powder
• a little mixed spice
• 2 carrots
• 400g minced meat or 200g minced meat & 200g corn beef/beef steak
• 2 potatoes cut in cubes
• chicken cube
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 can of peas or frozen peas
• 1 boiled egg
• 2 teaspoons corn flour
• 1 egg
• Some milk

Method
Serves 3-4 persons

• Cut and saute onion, garlic, carrot, semi-boiled potato (cut in cubes)
• Add met
• Add chicken cube, wine, water, peas, bay leaves and spices
• Cook for half an hour
• Make sure that the mixture is not too liquid. If so add 2 teaspoons of cornflour (or flour)
• Add the boiled egg to the mixture
• Let cool
• Cover a bowl with pastry, add the mixture and cover the mixture with pastry
• Cover pastry with a raw egg and some milk. The extra from the egg can be added to the mixture

• Cook in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius
• Leave 45-60 minutes in the oven or until the pie has a nice red colour

Recipe Origin
This recipe has been cooked by my mum for a long time. Ingredients change through times but the taste is always so good!

Meat pie with potato pastry

This pie is one of my favourites. It's a simple meat pie with a twist. The pastry is made of potatoes which gives it an interesting flavour.

Ingredients

• 500g potatoes
• 300g flour (no self raising)
• 100-150g butter/margarine

Filling

• 2 onions
• 300g pork minced meat
• 2 tomatoes, peeled, with the pips removed and cut into small pieces
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 glass wine
• Chicken cube
• Worchester sauce
  

Steps

Pastry

• Boil potatoes with a chicken cube without the peel
  
• Let the potatoes cool down
• Squash potatoes, add flour and butter
  

Filling

• Saute onion, garlic, minced meat
• Add tomatoes, a piece chicken cube, half a glass wine and Worchester sauce
• Leave until there is no more liquid

• On an oven tray place the bottom pastry section
• Add filling
• Cover the pie with the pastry
• Cover the pie with an egg to give the pie a nice red colour
• Cook in the oven with 200 degrees Celsius until it's red in colour
  

Origin of Recipe

This is another one of my mum's recipe. It comes out from a thirty plus year old notebook in which my mum's oldest recipe are all written down.