Stargazy Pie
DESCRIPTION
This iconic Cornish dish is the perfect centerpiece for your dinner table to wow your guests. The fish are designed to ‘gaze at the stars’ and don’t worry – you don’t have to eat the heads. Legend has it this pie was created after a brave fisherman, Tom Bawcock, ventured out into stormy seas to fish when the townsfolk of Mousehole were facing starvation. He returned triumphantly with an abundance of seven types of fish, which were cooked up in a pie and served to the community. This traditional pie is served every 23rd December in a community celebration.
Serves 6
INGREDIENTS
50g Trewithen Dairy Salted Butter
1 Leek, finely chopped
2 Shallots, finely chopped
3 rashers Smoked Bacon
1 tbsp Plain Flour
50ml Dry Cider
250ml Fish Stock
250ml Trewithen Dairy Whole Milk
2 tbsp Trewithen Dairy Cornish Clotted Cream
Pinch of Saffron
Small bunch of fresh Parsley, chopped
3 Eggs – 2 hard-boiled and chopped, 1 beaten
1 pack of Puff Pastry
6 Mackerel, butterflied with heads left on intact (backbone and tail removed)
Salt and pepper
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180c.
Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, before sweating down the shallots, leek and bacon for approx 10 minutes.
Add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Slowly pour in the cider and fish stock, while stirring well. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add the milk and the clotted cream and continue to stir until you have a thick sauce.
Add the saffron and seasoning. Gently stir through the parsley and hard boiled eggs.
Roll out the pastry until it’s about the thickness of a pound coin.
Fill a deep pie dish with half the sauce, then arrange the fish carefully over so the heads will poke out of the top. Pour over the remaining sauce.
Drape the pastry gently over the pie tin, then cut slits over the top for the fish heads to poke through. Gently ease each head through the slits until it rests securely over the pie tin. Tuck the pastry over the pie tin sides.
Brush the pastry with the beaten egg to glaze the top, before popping it into the preheated oven for approx 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
