Easy as pie (+recipes)

There's little else more comforting food-wise than delicious flaky pastry filled with your favourite combinations of ingredients. Photo / Babiche Martens

What makes a pie delicious? Gorgeous ingredients encased in pastry and baked to golden perfection. You'll find no dodgy unidentifiable fillings here.

We Kiwis love our pies and eat an extraordinary amount each year, but the quality available varies hugely.

Even though there are very good offerings at some delis and food markets, it only takes a little time to prepare a filling and roll out some pastry to make your own. Get creative and pair favourite flavours together to create a signature filling. By all means, make your own pastry. Puff can be a bit of a palaver but like anything homemade, it's worth the effort.

Supermarket pastry works fine but look out for the superior offerings at Sabato and Farro. Also, Paneton now makes puff pastry which is available at many gourmet food stores.

Today we have salmon fillet topped with a creamy leek, Dijon and wine sauce. The salmon is kept in one piece and placed directly on the pastry. The sauce goes on top then is wrapped - very delicious.

As is the vegetable pie. Cauliflower is chopped up and cooked until soft with courgette (eggplant would also be good), garlic, onion and olive oil. A handful of sage is added before piling it into the centre of a circle of pastry, topping with a slice or two of provolone cheese and more pastry.

For the rabbit pie, cook the meat slowly with tomatoes and olives, a little bacon and rosemary and a healthy splash of red wine to make a very rich and flavoursome filling.

Chicken can always be substituted if you are unable to find rabbit at your butcher's.

Remember it's important to brush the pastry generously with egg and milk beaten together so you're greeted with a gloriously shiny golden crust when you open the oven door.

CHEF'S TIP

When baking directly on a baking sheet, heat it in the oven first so the pastry hits the hot tray and cooks thoroughly underneath. It's also good to let fillings cool before putting in the pastry to prevent sogginess.