Name: Matt Moran’s fish and prawn pie
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 4 salad onions, halved; 25 ml olive oil; 1 each leek and celery stalk, diced; 3 thyme sprigs; 1 fresh bay leaf; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 30 ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth; 15 gm butter, coarsely chopped; 15 gm (1¼ tbsp) plain flour; 250 ml (1 cup) hot fish stock; 200 gm peeled uncooked prawns, cut into 3 pieces (400gm unpeeled); 150 gm skinless snapper fillet, cut into 3cm dice; 150 gm skinless blue-eye trevalla fillet, cut into 3cm dice; Finely grated rind of 1 lemon; 1 tbsp each finely chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley; 375 gm sheet butter puff pastry (see note); 1 egg yolk, for brushing; To serve: green salad

Matt Moran’s fish and prawn pie

Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for fish and prawn pie.

Serves 4

Prep

40M

Cook

45M

Total

1H 25M

Ingredients

4 salad onions, halved

25 ml olive oil

1 each leek and celery stalk, diced

3 thyme sprigs

1 fresh bay leaf

1 garlic clove, crushed

30 ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth

15 gm butter, coarsely chopped

15 gm (1¼ tbsp) plain flour

250 ml (1 cup) hot fish stock

200 gm peeled uncooked prawns, cut into 3 pieces (400gm unpeeled)

150 gm skinless snapper fillet, cut into 3cm dice

150 gm skinless blue-eye trevalla fillet, cut into 3cm dice

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

1 tbsp each finely chopped dill and flat-leaf parsley

375 gm sheet butter puff pastry (see note)

1 egg yolk, for brushing

To serve: green salad

Method

1.Blanch salad onion until tender (3-4 minutes). Drain, refresh, drain again and set aside.

2.Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add leek, celery, thyme, bay leaf, garlic and blanched onion and stir occasionally until tender (5-6 minutes). Add vermouth, simmer until evaporated (1-2 minutes), then remove herbs (discard). Add butter, cook until melted, then add flour and stir until smooth and combined. Gradually add fish stock, a ladle at a time, stirring continuously until smooth, then simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches a thick sauce consistency (3 minutes). Cool for 30 minutes, stir in prawns, fish, lemon rind, dill and parsley and season to taste. Transfer to a 1.25-litre oval pie dish, spreading evenly, then cover closely with a piece of baking paper and set aside.

3.Preheat oven to 200C. Cut pastry into an oval large enough to cover top of pie dish with a 2.5cm overhang, place pastry on an oven tray lined with baking paper and mark with a spoon to resemble fish scales (optional). Brush with yolk, season to taste with sea salt, sprinkle with a little cold water, then bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven to 190C, place pie dish in oven and bake pastry and pie until pastry is golden and cooked through and pie mixture is hot (15-20 minutes). Remove baking paper from pie dish, top with pastry and serve hot with a green salad.

Note We prefer to use Carême puff pastry, which comes in pre-rolled 375gm sheets. If it’s unavailable, substitute another good-quality butter puff pastry.

Drink Suggestion: 2009 Seresin Leah Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand Drink suggestion by Matthew Dunne
Notes