Fresh Akaroa Salmon Hand Pies
Change up your picnic basket food by making these hand pies - the savoury short pastry acts as a brilliant wrapping for the fresh salmon and keeps the salmon moist and flavoursome. Everyone knows pulling together a picnic shouldn’t be stressful, which is why Paneton Pastry is perfect - life’s too short to make pastry!
Makes 4
Ingredients
100g white rice, rinsed
3 tablespoons currants
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar or good quality white wine vinegar
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons white sesame seeds, toasted
4 x 100g pieces Fresh Akaroa Salmon, skinned and boned
500g Paneton Savoury Pastry – ready rolled sheet
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
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To finish
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds
2 sprigs coriander, leaves picked, optional
herb sauce, your favourite store bought or use recipe below
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Make the rice, cook the rice according to the packet instructions. Drain well. Plump the currants by putting in a small pot with 1 ½ tablespoons of vinegar. Gently heat until the vinegar mostly evaporates, about a minute. Remove from the heat and put in a bowl. Leave to cool.
Add the oil and remaining vinegar to the currants, season with salt and pepper and mix well using a fork. Add the warm rice and toasted sesame seeds and mix well.
Put the salmon pieces in a medium-hot frying pan and brown quickly on both sides to seal in the juices. Remove from the pan, season and set aside.
Prepare the pastry, on a lightly floured bench, cut the pastry sheet in half and roll each half thinner. Using a small plate as a guide (18cm diameter), cut out 4 rounds of pastry. See tips for leftover pastry bits.
Put a spoonful of the rice on each pastry round, top rice with the salmon. Brush the pastry edges with egg wash then bring up the pastry to enclose the salmon. Pinch and crimp the pastry with your fingers to secure the filling in the pastry.
Put the pies in a large shallow baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush evenly and well with egg wash and sprinkle with the extra sesame seeds. Make a small slit in the top part of the pastry to allow the steam to escape.
Put in the fridge to firm up, about 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 190°C.
Remove hand pies from the fridge and put in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes until the pastry is brown and there are no wet looking patches on the pastry.
Take hand pies on a picnic. Everyone take a bite, then fill with fresh coriander, if using and some of the herb sauce – eat away.
Put the remaining rice in a container – don’t forget a few forks too.
Tips
Dress the rice while it is still warm as the rice will absorb the flavours of the dressing more readily. We used Jasmine rice.
Leftover pastry bits can be folded and stacked together, wrapped well and frozen. Or you could make another hand pie with an extra piece of salmon.
Herb and vinegar sauce
a good handful of flat leaf parsley leaves
a good handful of basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons capers, drained
2 anchovy fillets, drained of oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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Put the herbs, garlic, capers, anchovy fillets, mustard and vinegar in the bowl of a small food processor. Process until the herbs are well chopped, then drizzle in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Put into a small jar, screw on the lid and keep in the fridge.