Fish Pie 4 Bonfire Night with Apple Tart…
Let’s face it … I love cooking but sometimes it is just fun to come back into a warm home after a firework night show, with something smelling beautiful & cooking, bubbling away in the oven ready to eat… So this is one of my - ‘Go to - cook in advance’ … menus. The beans & peas are already prepped & in the steamer, all you have to do is switch the hob on & cook them when the pie is ready, adding a knob of butter. I think you get the best flavours if you take the pie out the oven when it is cooked put some tin foil over it to keep it warm, let it rest like you would a beautiful piece of meat. As you can see the pie is ‘non-fussy’. I put some tin foil underneath it so that it can happily bubble over the edge, this is relaxed cooking. This pie is done in a tomato sauce as opposed to the rich cream.. It just suits the event…
Relaxed Cooking …
Ingredients..
Potatoes
Butter
onion or you could use leek or shallots
couple of garlic cloves, chopped
Herb du Provence
chilli - fresh or dry
smoked Paprika
Good splash of wine, red or white
tin/tins of tomato
squeeze of tomato puree
squeeze of tomato ketchup
assorted fish or better still a pack of fish pie mix
lots of prawns
salt & pepper
Double cheddar cheese
Method..
Boil the potatoes with a little salt, I always do more as you can always pan fry the left overs for an ‘added extra’ for dinner or breakfast on another occasion. Let them cool & slice them into coins. Spread them on a roasting tin with a little oil or melted butter & salt & roast them in the oven until they are lightly roasted - & I do mean lightly! Take them out to cool.
Make the sauce by pan frying the onions, add the garlic & cook for a moment or two, then add the other ingredients except the fish. Cook slowly for 20 minutes of so. Put the lid on & let it cool completely if you have time, this adds to the umami. If you don’t have time then put the fish in! If you do have time re-heat the sauce & add the fish, take off the hob and fill the pie dish with the sauce. Carefully arrange the potato coins on the top of the fish sauce to cover the sauce as best as is possible. Then grate over the cheese. You can let the pie cool. It is ready to pop it into the oven to cook when you are ready to go to your Bonfire Night party, leave it on the timer. Cook at 190 degrees / Gas 5 & cook for 25 - 35 minutes or longer if you have a large pie!
ENJOY!!
Easy Apple Tart …
Ingredients ..
Apples - not cooking apples
Shop bought short crust pastry, you can use puff if it takes your fancy ..
Brown granulated sugar
Icing sugar
Butter
Egg, beaten
Lemon juice
Method ..
Place grease proof paper on a roasting tin. Roll out the pastry into a rectangular on top of the the grease proof paper, cut the edges off the pastry on all the edges, about 1cm. Paint the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg & place the cut off pastry all around the edges creating a frame/tray.
Cut the apples in half & core, place the slices in a long pattern one on top of the other overlapping, until you have filled all the pastry base, work quickly so as not to let the apple brown. Sprinkle an ample amount of granulated sugar over the apples then dot all over with butter, squeeze over some lemon juice, not too much! Then using a sieve sprinkle icing sugar amply all over the tart.
Using the beaten egg, paint all around the edges of the tart.
Place the tart in the oven 180 degrees / 160 degrees fan. Bake in the oven for approximately 50 minutes, keep an eye on it, if it needs a bit longer then leave it in the oven, this tart looks best if the edges of the apple catch a bit. Take the tart out of the oven & when cooled sprinkle a little more icing sugar over it. This tart can be served hot or cold with a bit of double cream or ice cream is good too!
