Turkey Pie and A Perfect Crust

                          Fabulous turkey pie.

MIL's relatives visited from China so I roasted a turkey. It's an early Thanksgiving dinner I suppose. Turkeys are totally uncommon in China and I thought my guests were pretty happy until one of them said, when going out the door, "If I were cooking the bird, I'd add some soy sauce, some chili flakes and just more salt, you know."  I suppose you can, I said.

With the leftover turkey, I made PW's chicken pot pies from her book The Pioneer Woman Cooks because she made them look rustic and not too advanced on the cooking scale. I love pies but the thought of making the crust just puts me off. Turned out that PW's pie crust is not only perfect--short, flaky, delicious--but also perfectly easy to make. There's no way it won't be perfect because there's so much shortening in it, 3 cups flour to 1 1/2 cups shortening. I replaced 1/2 cup of the shortening with butter and the pastry was still good. PW insists on using Crisco and no butter for that perfect flaky pastry. I made a second batch using Crisco only and it was the same as the one with butter but I'll still take PW's advice and use Crisco only because I couldn't tell the difference between the two pastry in terms of flavor. Fat is 9 calorie per gram so I made a large pie without a base (pot pie) so that there's less pastry to eat and then with the leftover filling and pastry, I made little pies that I can freeze.

PW's pie crust is better than that in my chicken and leek pie recipe and my lattice-top apple pie recipe. I think the difference, besides the higher amount of shortening, is that the dough is not kneaded at all. That sort of negates everything about fraisage in my apple pie crust recipe but then again there's water added to that recipe to make the pastry strong enough to weave. PW's pie crust pastry is too short for weaving but is perfect for both savory and sweet pies and tarts.You can see how she makes the crust step by step here.

My son Wey devoured the pie. I thought that it was a little bit too watery and not creamy enough. I also don't like celery in my pies. I'm still searching for that elusive chicken pie recipe that will remind me of the chicken pies I ate at Max's Coffee House (I think that's the name) in Kampung Air in the 70s. Max's was the only western cafe and going to Max was a real treat. The pies at Max's were always served with a bottle of Lingham's sweet chili sauce. Absolutely heavenly.  Have you ever wanted to eat something that reminds you of your childhood and then when you eat it, years or even decades later, it's not as good because your standards are different now? I suspect that probably it's the memory of swimming in the sea in Kampung Air and then eating at Max's when I had extra money that make me crave for them.

In the recipe below, I've increased the amount of chicken/turkey and flour to get a thicker gravy. I don't like celery in my pies so I've replaced that with mushrooms. I also added a bit of garlic and my favorite gravy flavoring, Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry for that oomph.


Add the beaten egg to the crumbly mixture of flour, salt and shortening.


Add the ice-cold water and vinegar, stir to mix well. Finally, do not knead, just gather the dough together into balls.


If you are rolling directly on the work surface, flour it first.

PW's Perfect Pie Crust IS perfect: light, very short and delicious. And super easy to make.


You can have the perfect pie recipe but if you burnt the pies...

Chicken/Turkey Pie (makes 2 large 9"/ 23 cm pies or about 30 small muffin-sized ones)
Filling:
3 cups of cooked turkey/chicken, deboned and cut into small bite-sized pieces
1 cup white or Swiss brown mushrooms*, sliced
1 carrot, diced about pea size
1/3 cup plain flour
1 cup frozen peas
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
1 tsp dried thyme or marjoram or parsley (as you like)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 chicken buillion/stock cube
1 cup dairy cream
salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp Bristol Cream sherry
2 tbsp butter

* or 2 stalks of celery, cut pea-sized

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, mushrooms/celery, carrots and saute until the veggies turn transparent. Add the peas, then the chicken/turkey and sprinkle the flour over, stirring to combine. Let mixture cook and bubble for two minutes, then add the chicken stock and stock cube. Now add the cream and mix well. Cook over low heat until mixture thickens, about 4 to 5 minutes. Season with the sherry, herb, salt and pepper to taste.

2. Pour the mixture into a pie dish, level.

Perfect Pie Crust (enough for two 9"/23 cm pot pies only)
3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 cups shortening (I used Crisco)
1 large egg
5 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp salt

egg wash: 1 yolk + 1/2 tbsp milk or just whisk an egg, half the white removed

note: this recipe will make more than 2 x 9"/23cm pie crusts for pot pies (i.e. no base) but to make 30 small pies, you need 2 times the recipe amount.

1. Put the salt (I add this now to get it evenly mixed in but PW adds it with the vinegar), flour and shortening into a large bowl and use a pastry cutter to cut the shortening in until the mixture is coarse-crumbly.
2. Beat the egg and add to the flour mixture, stirring to blend egg in. Pour the water over and then the vinegar (in a large circle) and use the pastry cutter to mix well. Gather dough together; no need to knead. Chill the pastry for 10 minutes.
3. Divide the pastry into two, roll each between plastic sheets.

Making the large pies:
1. Preheat oven at 200 C.
 2. Scoop filling into two 9"/ cm glass pie dish to the rim. Use a rolling pin to roll the crust larger than the pie dish and transfer the pie crusts onto the pies with the rolling pin. Brush the crust with the egg wash. Make decorative edges, snip a cross in the middle to let steam out. Brush with egg wash and bake 25 to 30 minutes.

Making the small pies:
1. Preheat oven at 200 C.
2. Roll pastry out, cut into circles large enough (I used a large ring cutter) to fit the muffin cups to the rim. Put some baking weights or beans (I used soy beans) on the base of the pastry and bake 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Remove muffin pans from oven, fill the muffin cups with the filling and cover with a circle of pastry. Pinch the edges of the top and bottom pastry together and use the tines of a fork to press a pattern around the edge.
4. Brush egg wash on the tops of the pies, snip a cross with scissors in the center and bake 20 minutes.

Leftovers for Dinner

Sorry, no new recipes. Last night we had leftovers from Tuesday's roasted lamb dinner (a small dinner for my Form 6 ex-classmates; we had a great time & again it's funny how despite not seeing each other often, we never seem to change and are so comfortable with each other), sang to a Queens VCD Ming had bought for us ("It's music from your era") and watched a whacky but entertaining movie called The Hangover (Hub as usual fell asleep). The air was cool (as it always is at night this time of the year), the coffee was good and life felt great. Thank you God.

I always preferred lamb from New Zealand but this Australian lamb (using rosemary from the plant Ming smuggled in in July) was just as good, very tender and tasty. As usual, I did too many things at one time and didn't get the lamb into the oven until 5:15 pm so I roasted it at 220 C for 40 min, then at 200 C all the way through and 2 hours 40 min later, it was done to perfection. Ok, maybe it could've been a little bit less done but the bottle of red (can't remember what) from Barossa that Y bought on her recent trip was great and did the lamb justice. The corn is from my garden, the salad (still fresh after 2 days) made by Y and the leftover mushroom cottage pie was good with a bit of ground beef in it.

Mushroom Cottage Pie

On a rare occasion of me sitting down in front of the TV recently, I watched Laura of French Chef At Home cook a vegetarian meal. Yesterday I was out with friends and we saw a big sack of fresh local shiitake mushrooms (make sure you get local shiitake because the ones from China can smell like sweat by the time they get here) and oyster mushrooms--the same mushrooms that Laura used for the mushroom pie, which had no lamb by the way so technically it isn't a shepherd's pie.

The resulting pie I baked, based on hurriedly scribbled ingredients (these days it isn't cool to give a list of ingredients on food programs *sigh*), was a hit. The mushrooms were meaty and delicious and the red wine gave a wonderful aroma and taste to the dish. I love this pie and although Wey prefers pies with meat in them, he still ate half the pie. I underestimated the amount of mushrooms needed so the pie was more mash than mushrooms but that was okay. I think the pie had a bit more gravy than Laura's but as the pie cooled, the gravy disappeared. We had Hungarian bratwursts and a leaf salad with the pie and it was good enough for a simple Thursday night dinner although by 11 pm I was hungry again. But I am determined to loose those 2 kgs by the end of November because the loss will make way for more food to be eaten in December! I know some people diet for a day or two for that special dinner or pair of skirt, but for me it's to make way for more food. Disgusting.

As I sat down to write this post, I googled for the recipe and found it listed as 'Mushroom Parmentier'. My recipe below is not far from the original except for the amount of mushrooms and I used cheddar instead of gruyere cheese. As usual I cut steps whenever I could; that's my bad habit. I think if I were to tweak this recipe, I'd add some cubed beef steak to it but then again it really is very good as it is. I'm sold on this Laura person; her recipes are simple to follow and delicious. If only she doesn't have that fun but irritating French cafe music on all the time.


Mushroom Shepherd's Pie
500g mix of fresh shiitake & oyster mushrooms
1/2 red onion (or white since red is expensive), chopped
3 T butter
2 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 t fresh or dried thyme (fresh is better)
salt & pepper to taste
1 T plain flour
1 T fresh parsley (I used Italian flat leaf), chopped

Mash
4 large potatoes, skinned n cut into cubes
2 T butter
5-6 fresh dairy cream (or milk)
1/2 t salt & some freshly ground pepper
50 g mature cheddar, grated

--boil the potatoes until tender. Drain n mash with all the ingredients using a potato masher or ricer. Adjust the amount of cream/milk to make the mash the consistency to your liking.

Prep: I do wash my mushrooms (top only, don't wash the underside) despite all the instructions telling me not to, and gently squeeze out the water. Trim off the stalks & tear the oyster mushrooms into smaller pieces and cut the shiitake into 1 cm thick slices.

Oven at 250 C.

1. Put 2 T butter into a frying pan, add 2 olive oil and fry the onions until transparent and soft. Add the mushrooms and garlic, fry for 1 minute. Add the red wine and fry until the wine is nearly gone in amount and fragrant (until it doesn't smell as strong as when it was added).

2. Add the stock, thyme, salt & pepper and let it cook for about 1 minute, stirring well.

3. Knead 1 T butter with 1 T flour ('beurre manie'--what a clever way to thicken the gravy without ending up with lumps of flour!) and add to the mushrooms, stirring to dissolve the butter and flour. The sauce will thicken beautifully. Add the parsley, stir through and spoon the mixture into a gratin dish.

4. Spoon the mash over the mushrooms, level and pull a fork over to make a lattice pattern and bake at 250 C for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Serve hot.

Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Tart

Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Tart

Wey is writing his last paper this moment. He came home yesterday and chased the chickens (yes, chickens. I 'acquired' 4 kampung chickens last month. They are cute. They sleep in trees. Does anyone know how to make them sit on their eggs?), watched TV and chat on the computer. By 9 pm, I lost control. I had to nag. Motherhood makes a woman a nagger. "Are you ready for your KH (Life/Home Skills) exam?" I asked. "Easy peasy, I always score below 40 marks." "Oh, wow, that's 80%" "Mom, it's out of 60 marks." Right, great revelation. I made him sit down, with 2 Malay-English dictionaries on the table.

It is unfortunate that I've never really looked at his KH textbook. KH is a half credit subject and there's only one textbook. It is not a compulsory-to-pass subject so most students treat it as a waste of their time. I never look at ithe textbook because my BM level only helps me read letters from the government. I always tell my kids, and I mean it, that BM is a beautiful language (to which Wey would nod) and very easy to learn, if only we read and practise it. So there I was, going through the chapter on consumerism and checking every fourth word (by the way, what is berubal?), and getting more and more angry with Wey, who had his head on the table, and nodded just to keep me going. When I looked up at one point and saw he had his eyes closed, I just had it. (I won't tell you what I did, but Wey often tells me,"If we were in Canada, you'd be in jail for child abuse." Why isn't there a law for abused parents?) I wish I had spent time with him on this subject which I used to think was a waste of time but turned out to be very interesting and informative. KH is useful to learn and easy to score. I have to remind myself of the Chinese saying, "If the cow doesn't want to drink, how do you make it dip its head?"

Ah well. Let's cook. My fridge is acting up and the stuff in the bottom drawer occasionally freezes. I had a packet of smoked salmon that froze. After thawing, it was mushy and disgusting. So it went into this smoked salmon and asparagus tart which was good but not as tasty as this salmon bacon quiche, I thought. However, Wey loves it and thinks the salmon and asparagus combination is great and for someone who hates fish and loves bacon, that's a big surprise.

.

Smoked Salmon And Asparagus Tart

Pastry
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 t salt
125 g cold butter, in small cubes
5 T very cold water

prep: pre-heat oven at 180 C.

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour, working the mixture until it becomes an evenly mixed crumbly mixture (I can never get them to look like fine breadcrumbs).

2. Add the cold water and use a fork to mix into a dough; do not overmix.

3. Chill for at least 1/2 hour.

4. Roll pastry into a large circle enough to cover the bottom and sides of a removable-bottom round tart pan of 9 1/2" or 24 cm, drap it over the rolling pin and transfer onto the pan. Trim excess edges.

5. Put a piece of foil on the tart base, add beans or even metal spoons to weigh down the pastry so it won't puff. Pop tart into oven for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the weights and the foil and let tart toast another 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven.

The Filling
1 large egg + 2 egg yolks
200 g smoked salmon, torn into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt and pepper
pinch of fresh dil l (optional)
12 spears of thin asparagus
1 heaped T grated sharp cheddar

prep: snap the hard ends off the asparagus; discard. Blanch the asparagus for a few seconds, drain. Trim the asparagus to the radius of your tart. Snip the trimmed stems (not the spear ends) into 1" lengths.

1. Whisk the eggs, add the heavy cream, dill, cheddar and seasoning and mix well.

2. Scatter the torn/flaked salmon & 1" asparagus trimmings on the tart base, pour in the filling and bake at 180 C for 10 minutes.

3. Arranged the blanched asparagus spears around the tart, like the face of a clock. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes.

4. Let the tart cool a little and firm up before cutting.

A Very Very Good Cottage Pie

How good can it be? Try it, especially on kids. I haven't met a kid who doesn't like cottage pie.

I didn't know until today that shepherd's pies have lamb or mutton as the meat filling while cottage pies have beef. Hmm, I've always called my ground beef mash pies shepherd's pies. There you go, something learnt.

I made half a dozen mini cottage pies along with the two jumbo pies for the Kg K kids and when E dropped by this afternoon, I gave her a couple to bring home. She just messaged to say that her hub and son loved the pies and she has to have the recipe, so I am happy to oblige since I am running low on materials to blog. I have the total opposite problem to Jo's. I can write and publish a post in 20 minutes but I don't have enough photos to support my ramblings. These days we've been getting afternoon thunderstorms (and mornings are so hot the sunlight sears) and there just isn't enough natural light to capture photos good enough to blog.

You can do the mash the night before to break up the steps and make work lighter. These pies freeze well too although in my house we never have enough left over to freeze. My mash are not super smooth because I don't have a ricer and my helper Vero uses a potato masher. Some people recommend the processor but that would make the mash sticky most of the time. Anyway, for cottage pies I prefer to have some lumps in the mash.

This recipe has been with me forever so I can't remember where it's from. It's the only cottage pie recipe I like. In fact, when I eat other cottage pies, I secretly feel pleased that they aren't as good as mine. Now you can secretly feel pleased too next time you eat somebody else's less-than -perfect cottage pie (as long as she doesn't read this blog too). E said most cottage pies have a ragu style filling with too much tomato puree whereas my pie filling tastes more like the beef steak pies. When something's so good you don't want to change it much except I've added parmesan and cheddar in place of butter and also mixed Italian herbs and more garlic to give it extra flavor. Here's the golden recipe.



Cottage Pie

The Mash
1.5 kg old potatoes*
50 g tasty cheddar, grated
30 g parmesan cheese, grated
6-8 T milk or skimmed milk
salt and pepper to taste

* I like the potato layer to be 1 1/2 times the height of the meat layer for a more substantial meal but you can decrease this amount to 1 kg if you don't want such a thick layer. Make sure the meat layer is not too thin or nobody will like your pie.

1. Peel, cube and boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and mash while hot, adding the cheeses, milk, salt and pepper. I like my mash lightly salted to go with a saltier meat base but it's up to you. Add some butter if like.

The Meat Filling
700 g fresh lean ground beef
3 tomatoes, in thin slices (optional but recommended)
4 T tomato puree or 2 T tomato paste
1 big onion, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground black pepper (to your taste)
1-1 /2 t salt (to your taste)
1 t dried basil
1 t dried oregano/Italian mixed herbs
1 beef stock cube*
2 T ordinary flour

* My fav is Korean beef granules that come in 300 g and 500 g packs, with the picture of a large piece of uncooked steak on the packs. Very flavorful, better than Oxo and Maggi.

1. Preheat oven at 250 C.

2.Heat a pot up, add 1 T olive oil and fry the onion and garlic until soft (not brown) and add the beef. Fry the beef until the color has changed. Add the puree, basil, oregano or Italian mixed herbs, salt & pepper and flour, stirring all the time. Break the stock cube, taste and season if necessary.If your mash is not too salty, you can make the meat a little saltier. Add 1 1 /4 cup water, stirring well until all the water is absorbed.

3. Spoon beef mixture into an ovenproof dish of about 9" square (you can also use small individual foil pans), arrange the tomato slices over the meat and spread the mash on top. Drag a fork over to make a pattern. You can sprinkle a tablespoon of grated tasty cheddar or parmesan all over the mash too.

4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until mash is crisped and browned here and there.

Chicken N Leek Pie

Baked a chicken last week and had lots of leftover white meat. I saw this recipe in Good Taste magazine and liked the way they overlap the excess pie crust over the top of the pie. I prefer short crust pastry to puff pastry because there's so much less pastry to eat. Also, I learnt pastry making from a local baker years ago and ever since then I avoid commercial pastries. The reason is they use pastry margarine, which is a creamy-colored solid margarine that doesn't melt even in tropical 33 degrees heat so that the dough is never sticky or hard to handle. I figured that to get it to that stage the margarine must've been hydrogenated to the max. And that was before transfat was an issue. Just imagine pastry margarine as a piece of solid cholesterol plaque that sticks to the walls of your arteries. And you wouldn't believe the tons of pastry margarine used to make puff pastry. So please, indulge in that croissant only once in a green moon.

The Good Taste pastry only needs an easy whiz in the food processor but I think because the butter is melted and our humidity level is high, the pastry didn't stay crisp. I have instead changed the recipe by using cold butter, but you can always use your preferred pastry recipe. You can also make the pastry more 'short' by increasing the butter and reducing the milk, if you are extremely underweight/well-insured/have an optimistic personality.





Chicken N Leek Pie

4 cups cooked chicken meat, in short shreds
1 large stalk leek, sliced thinly (about 2 cups packed loosely)
1/2 cup thickened/double dairy cream
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 T plain flour
40g butter
1/2 t salt (omit if chicken is salted)
1/4 t white pepper
1/2 T oil
1 t tarragon or rosemary or thyme or sage or marjoram*

The Pastry
2 cups plain flour, sifted
100g cold unsalted butter, in small cubes
1/2 cup low-fat or whole milk
1/4 t salt

1 egg yolk for glazing

* the original recipe uses tarragon but do use an herb you like.

1. In a small pot, add 1/2 T of oil or butter and fry the leeks for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove leeks to a bowl. Melt the butter in the same pot over low heat and add the flour, stirring well (the mixture will bubble and then thicken; make sure do not brown) for about 3 to 4 minutes and switch off heat. Using a small whisk, slowly whisk in the stock, then the cream and milk, the chicken, leeks and finally the seasoning (taste and adjust). Let filling cool completely.

2.Add salt to the flour in a mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until mixture is crumbly. Add the milk and gather the dough, kneading a couple of times until it comes together. Cover and let it chill in fridge about 20 minutes.

3. Switch oven to 200 C.

4. Get hold of a 22 cm springform pan. Divide the dough into three portions. Put two portions together and knead two or three times, then roll out into a large circle (27 to 28 cm) of 4 mm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Roll another circle of about 18 to 19 cm (I've decided to give metric measurements only; it's high time Americans catch up with the rest of the world), cutting out a bit of pastry to make a couple of leaves. Line the pan with the larger circle of pastry, letting the sides overhang. Trim or press the overhanging edges so that the overhang (about 3 cm) is the same width all around. Spoon the filling into the pie, place the smaller circle of pastry over the chicken filling and fold the overhanging pie pastry of the larger circle over the top. Cut 3 to 4 small slits on the pie top with sharp scissors, decorate with the pastry leaves and brush a beaten egg yolk all over the top.

5. Bake in lower oven for 30 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

Yatala Pies

The guy didn't understand me at first and then he said "Oh, Yat-lah pies!" We were on the way to the Gold Coast and this was the second time we tried searching for Yatala Pies, recommended by CL, who, like Yi, is not even a pie-lover.

Once you get there (you must ask directions, because the roundabout that leads there branches off into 6 directions, plus if you are coming from Brisbane, you have to cross the highway), you know you won't be disappointed. Lots of cars in the big lot, and people sitting inside and out chomping on big pies slathered with tomato ketchup. (Off-track a little: I discovered all my 3 kids hate tomato ketchup, unlike me. I don't know if it's because years ago we saw this guy give a whole bottle of ketchup to his toddler at the airport KFC and she happily sucked on it. Yes, feed your babies ketchup, guys, and they'll grow big and tall and who cares if others have to eat her drool.) The pies weren't expensive so I went crazy as usual and ordered too much : steak n kidney (my favorite; so english), steak n mushrooms (very good), plain steak, beef bacon n cheese (the boys' favorite but I found it very salty), steak tomato n onion (very yum), chicken (good flavor but hardly any chicken in it), apple n custard (Wey said okay) n berry pies (very good but not much berries).






The pies are baked in old-fashioned ovens. The whole place felt like it was in the 50s.

The family serving pie at A$10/RM30 is a better deal than the individual pies at A$3.80 to A$4/RM12. The pies were very solid; weighed like a kilo each and as big as a US Big Mac and one will fill any stomach to the brim. While the fillings were very tasty and wet, I kinda was wary of the size and the puff pastry - there was so much of it (pastry).Still, pretty good pies.

Salmon-Bacon Quiche

It doesn't pour here when it rains, it...lashes. Just when I had the craving for Dotts' egg tarts yesterday at 4pm, the lashes of rain came whipping everywhere. I still got out of the car, grabbed 6 tarts, came home, showered and sat down to a cuppa and last night's salmon quiche. And the egg tarts. Dotts' egg tarts are SO GOOD, perfectly sweet (which means hardly sweet), the egg custard not too soft or firm and the pastry wonderfully 'short'. I usually peel half the pastry away, because I know all commercial pastry is made with that weird laboratory-produced wax called pastry margarine which never melts at room temp, making your every pastry attempt a success (but clogs your arteries). But yesterday I ate it all, sat back contently and meowed...ahhh...love rainy days.

Quiches are not so in now, probably due to that '80s book 'Real Men Don't Eat Quiche'? (Don't tell Wey that, he likes quiches). I read somewhere that these so called real men stay away from anything they can't pronounce. I suppose that would be dishes like coq au vin ("I'd like a chicken chop.") Fillet mignon ("Sirloin, medium rare, thank you.") And yes, quiche ("Er, I'll have the pie.")

Linguistics struggles aside, quiches are easy to cook for a hungry family. You can use so many other ingredients such as ham, spinach, peppers, anything you like really. I've made mine extra rich, with cream (use only milk if like but won't be as nice) and loads of meat and veg. Chickyegg, you'd like this eggy dish.



This recipe makes two substantial quiches:

The Pastry

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 pinches of salt
180g cold butter, cut into small cubes (add 50g more if you dare-will give crumbier pastry)
2 eggs, beaten
2 - 3 T water (or lemon juice)

1. Get two flan pans (or a glass dish like I did) of 9"/23 cm diameter and grease them lightly. Oven at 200 C.

2. Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl, add butter and mix well using your fingertips until mixture is like fine breadcrumbs. Add the beaten eggs and water/lemon juice, and extra water if necessary but not too much or pastry will be tough when baked. Knead lightly to mix well.

3. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface. You may not be able to get a nice whole piece but never mind, the pastry can be patched up using several pieces of dough. Flip the pastry over the rolling pin so that it's easier tranfer to the pan. Press pastry firmly onto pan bottom and sides. Trim the top to get a neat edge.

4. Pop the pan into the oven for 10-15 min. to dry pastry out a bit. Remove from oven.

The Filling

1 14oz can salmon*, flaked & liquid retained
80 -100g streaky bacon, in thin strips
1 brown onion, finely sliced
50g fresh mushrooms (button or shiitake), finely sliced
2 cups heavy cream (or 1 cup)
1 cup milk (or 2 cups)
6 eggs
1/2 to 3/4 t salt (I go with 1/2; low-salt diet ...)
1/4 t pepper
1 t paprika
2 T freshly grated parmesan
2 T fresh parsley, chopped finely

* or use tuna or omit fish and increase amount of bacon and veg

1.Put bacon into frying pan w/o oil, fry over low heat till tranparent, then add the onions and mushrooms and fry two min. Let it cool. Mix in the flaked salmon.

2. Crack eggs into a bowl, whisk well,then add the cream, milk, salt, pepper, paprika, parsley, parmesan and the reserved salmon liquid. Give it all a good whip to blend well.

3. Scatter the fried ingredients evenly over pastry, and use a ladle to spoon the egg-cream mixture over the fried ingredients carefully so they don't get pushed to the sides. Use a fork to lightly stir and even out the salmon mixture.

4. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 min or till the middle filling has set.