Enough politics, time for some food

As an antidote to the rather  doomladen content I’ve been posting, and in the spirit of BW being a community, I thought I’d share one of my favourite recipes. It is a Tudor recipe, and I won’t be giving scientifically exact details. It’s quite an unusual flavour for modern palates, feel free to vary the amounts to your own taste. 

Salmon and fig pie

Take two salmon fillets, about 1/2 Lb. remove the skin and chop/mince the flesh. It’s best to do this by hand to keep some chunkiness.

Now finely chop five or six dried figs, depending on their size (and how much you like fig). I remove the woody nub.

Mix the figs into the salmon, depending on your taste add between half and one level teaspoon of powdered ginger, half to one teaspoon of powdered cinnamon, a little grated nutmeg, a pinch of salt and as much ground black pepper as you like. Mix all of this well. 

You can now either make one large pie or smaller pies or pasties. I usually roll out short crust pastry (shop bought, I’m no pastry chef) and cut two circles using a dinner plate, making sure one is larger then the other. Place the salmon mixture on the smaller pastry circle, and then lay the larger one over the top, crimping and sealing the edges with egg yolk. Cut a small cross in the top and glaze with the rest of the egg. 

Alternatively you can cut several smaller circles, placing the salmon on one half and folding it over, making small pasties. 

The original recipe called for frying in oil. I’ve never done this, but have always baked it in a pre-heated oven at around 180°C/250°F for about 30 minutes. You can serve it hot/warm, but it’s also good cold, especially the small pasties as a picnic dish.