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Pastes hern lagesek (Stargazy Pie)

Pastes hern lagesek (Stargazy Pie) is a traditional English recipe (from Cornwall) for a classic pie of fish, eggs, bacon and herbs baked in a rich shortcrust pie shell that's made so that the fish heads are poking out of the pastry to stare at the sky. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic English version of: Stargazy Pie (Pastes hern lagesek).

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

30 minutes

Total Time:

50 minutes

Serves:

8

Rating:

Tags : Herb RecipesBaking RecipesBritish RecipesEnglish RecipesCornish Recipes

This dish (which is unique to Mousehole in the West of Cornwall) evolved as a way of using-up small fish from the catch that could not be sold at market. Typically many different fish are used and the heads or tails are arranged so that they poke out from the pie. In that spirit both pilchards (large sardines) and small mackerel are used here, but you could use just sardines or just small mackerel.

According to local legend, Winter storms had prevented the fishing boats from setting out to sea the whole of December. Then, in a lull in the the bad weather, one of the local fishermen, Tom Bawcock managed to set out and catch enough fish to prevent the village of Mousehole from starving. He returned on the 23rd of December and a pie of many fishes was made from the catch. This became the Star Gazy Pie (its called this as the fish heads poke out from the crust to gaze up at the stars).

In Mousehole the 23rd of December is still called Tom Bawcocok's Eve.

Ingredients:

4 herring (or pilchards)
4 mackerel
3 hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped
3 rashers of bacon, finely diced
1 lemon, halved
1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp tarragon, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp fine breadcrumbs
8 sprigs parsley
500g rich shortcrust pastry (made without the sugar) [ie made with 500g plain flour]
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk to glaze

Method:

Gut, scale and clean the fish then remove the bones, but leave the heads and tails attached (if the fish are very fresh then the backbone should come free just using your fingertips). Cut a slice from each lemon half and set these aside to decorate the pie later.

Take half your pastry and roll out until large enough to cover the base and sides of a 20cm diameter shallow pie dish. Use the pastry to line the dish then cut off any excess. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the base of your pie then take the fish and arrange these around the dish like the spokes of a wheel and setting them so that the heads point upwards and over the edge of the dish.

Mix together the chopped egg, onion, bacon and tarragon in a bowl. Use this mixture to fill the gaps between the fish (with larger fish the gut cavity was filled with the mixture as well). Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon halves and pour this over the fish and the stuffing. Dot the butter over the fish.

Take the remaining pastry and roll out until large enough to cover the surface of the pie. Brush the lip of the lower piece of pastry with milk or egg yolk, then place over the top of the pie then cut out slits or holes so that the heads of the fish can poke through. Trim the excess pastry away then crimp the pastry together with thumb and forefingers (use the typical Cornish method used for pasties if you can).

Coat the finished pie with the glaze mix then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 200°C and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and the fish is cooked through.

Serve piping hot, with a sprig of parsley in the mouth of each fish. Typically this is accompanied by boiled new potatoes.