Haddock and Black Pudding Mini Tarts
Caramelised Onion, Anchovy and Olive
Smoked Trout and Almond Quick Pie
Fish and Fennel with Saffron Mash
Smoked Haddock and Mushroom with Fresh Herbs
Veg’ Out
Roast Vegetable with Parmesan Pastry
Roasted Vegetable with Cumin Puff Pastry
Spring Vegetables with Lemon Polenta
Tasty Tuscan Beans and Tomato Pie
“La Coca” Algerian Red Pepper and Tomato
Crispy Spinach and Mint Cigars
Butternut Squash, Sage and Goat’s Cheese
Tomato and Mozzarella Triangles
Endive, Roquefort and Walnut Pie
Coloured Peppers and Olive Lunch Buns
Sweetie Pies
Little Lime Curd and Raspberry Pies
Armagnac, Prune and Ginger Little Pies
Blueberry and Strawberry Filo Pies
Apple, Orange and Ginger Upside-down Pie
Easy Peasy Plum and Blackberry
Cardamom and Honey Bread and Butter Pudding
What is a pie? Sounds like a simple question, but over the years pies have been and still are many varied things, so for a definition I’d say the looser the better. How about a baked dish with some sort of filling, often with a pastry casing or top, though sometimes not? The word “pie” (or “pye”) itself is derived from the Middle English for magpie and it’s easy to see why.Just like this avaricious bird storing precious objects in its nest, the cook can pack a pie with all manner of surprises. Pies can be savoury or sweet, enclosed or open, with pastry, or not, the right way up or even upside down. Pies helpfully are often called a pie but sometimes it’s a pasty, a quiche, pudding, tart or even a cake.
Big or small, pies are wonderfully difficult to define. The term “pie” is used to describe dishes that aren’t pies at all but confections, and their adjunct can describe their filling or not. An Eskimo pie is my favourite offender being neither a pie nor containing a single shred of Eskimo. It is, in fact, an oblong of ice cream covered in chocolate. So, in keeping with the rebellious nature of pies everywhere, I’ve sneaked some controversial ones into this book!
I used to believe it was the Greeks who had invented pies but as I delved further I found references suggesting that it was in fact the Egyptians, with bakers to the pharaohs wrapping nuts, honey and fruits inside a bread dough. It seems the Egyptians kindly passed the pie idea to the Greeks who thoughtfully originated pie pastry. When the Romans ran roughshod over the Greeks, they appropriated this delicacy and triumphantly delivered it home.
Once the pastry case had been invented there really was no limit to what could be baked inside. Fast forward to the thirteenth century and find reference to a tortoise pie from an anonymous Andalusian Cookbook which starts, “simmer the tortoises