04 June 2011

The bestest Snapper Pie to warm the cockels of your heart!


The weather is getting a wee bit colder, and I am allowed to say that now we are officially in Winter. And what better way to make you feel all warm and cosy than with some good old comfort food like a snapper pie. I've been wanting to make a snapper pie for quite some time so today I made the effort and I think I even surprised myself at how well it turned out. It's actually not too difficult to make at all but a little time consuming if you want all the flavours to be subtle and lovely. I must say it was one of the most satisfying things to make and eat :)

I first came across Snapper pie through my local, Garfish in Crows Nest. I thought if I'm going to make a version of this pie then it might as well be the one I love. So here is the recipe:

Snapper pie with confit garlic, broccolini & sauce Soubise

There are 5 components to the pie: Snapper, sauce soubise, confit garlic, broccolini and puff pastry. Start with the sauce soubise as it will take you around 1 hour to make.

Sauce Soubise

1 onion thinly sliced
50g butter
2 fresh bay leaves
2-3 tablespoons plain flour
combo of milk & cream to bring it to a creamy sauce consistency
1/4 cup of chicken or vegetable stock

The trick with sauce soubise is to blanch the onions for 2 mins and then transfer to a saucepan and add half the butter and cook on a low heat with the lid on stirring occasionally. The onions will soften but it will take around 45 mins so you need some patience here. In the meantime you can start preparing the pie.

Cut snapper into 60g pieces (per mini pie, use around 250g fresh snapper fillets that have the skin taken off, de-boned etc) and lightly steam for approx 2 mins. Be careful as you just want to have the snapper so it is slightly undercooked. Take immediately from the heat and cool the fish on a cold plate and leave to stand so it does not continue to cook any further.

You can next steam enough broccolini for the equivalent pies you are making.

Confit Garlic

For confit garlic, combine garlic and oil in a saucepan and poach over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until garlic is soft. Remove from heat and cool. Garlic will keep in its oil, refrigerated, in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Continue with the sauce Soubise by taking the soft onions and processing with a 1/4 cup of chicken stock to create a onion paste of sorts.

In another saucepan you can add the rest of the butter and melt along with the fresh bay leaves and then remove. Add a few tablespoons of flour until you get a thick paste and then add warmed milk, little by little to the mix continously stirring until you get a lovely bechamel like sauce. Add onion mix to the sauce and continue stirring until you have a lovely creamy sauce soubise.

Assemble the pie by getting a small pie form (see picture above) and placing the steamed broccolini on the bottom and then the steamed fish fillets as a layer on top of the broccolini.  Add the confit garlic and then you can pour over the sauce soubise just so it more or less covers the fish. Place the pie form on your puff pastry and trace around the circumference of the pie dish with an extra 1 cm border. Place it on top of the pie and finish with an egg wash.

Bake at 180 degrees celsius for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with a yummy decadent potato mash.