Where to start with this one?  The tender morsels of delicate seafood?  The subtle herb and white wine sauce infused with lemon or the crisp, buttery pastry top?  Let’s not start……let’s finish with an empty pie dish and a deep sigh of satisfaction……

Prep time:  20  Minutes                 Cooking time:  50  Minutes                 $$  Medium Budget

Serves 4

40gm of butter

1 tbs of olive oil

2 eschalot, finely diced

1 clove of garlic, finely minced

2 sprigs of dill, finely chopped

1 tbs of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Grated rind of 1/2 a lemon

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 tbs of plain flour

1/2 cup of dry white wine

1 cup of fish or chicken stock

300gm of green prawns

300gm of scallops (I prefer roe on for this recipe but it’s up to you)

400gm salmon fillet, skinned and pin boned and cut into 2cm cubes

Sea salt and cracked pepper

4 sheets of frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 egg, whisked

Steamed greens to serve

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Use a 2 cup capacity pie dish or ramekin upside down. to cut out the lid for the pie.  Lay it on the pastry and trace around the edge with your knife.  I use the leftover pastry to make the pies look pretty (in a lattice fashion) and I also use a cookie cutter to make little pastry puffs that you can dip into the pie.  Kids love munching on them too!

Melt the butter with the oil in a frypan on a medium heat and add the eschallot.  Fry until translucent before adding the garlic and lemon rind.  Fry for a further 60 seconds and then sprinkle in the flour and season with salt and pepper.  Use a whisk if preferable and whisk in the lemon juice, white wine and stock.  Continue whisking over a medium heat until all lumps are removed and the sauce starts to thicken.  Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove the sauce from the heat and add the raw seafood (it will cook in the oven), parsley and dill.  Stir to combine and then divide the mixture between four 2 cup capacity ramekins or pie dishes.  Top each pie with the cut out pastry and press firmly on the edges to seal it.  As I mentioned before, cut the leftover pastry into strips and lay them diagonally across the top of the pie.  Get creative!!  Brush the tops of the pies with the beaten egg.

Place the pies on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and pop them in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden and bubbling.  Serve the pies with steamed greens and extra pastry puffs to dip into the sauce.  Enjoy!