Star Gazy Pie Recipes

STAR GAZY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Gut, clean and bone the fish, leaving on the heads and tails. Finely chop the onion. Chop the bacon into 1/4" squares. Cut the lemon in half; set two slices of lemon aside for decoration. Squeeze and save the juice. Finely grind the lemon rind. Boil the eggs until soft, not hard. When cooled, cut eggs into small dice.
• Thaw pastry and cut into 2 equal halves. Roll one piece out to line the bottom of an 8" glass pie plate. cut off overlapping edges, and brush edges with milk or water to ensure the pastry lid will stick in place.
• Then place all chopped ingredients, with seasoning, into the lined pie dish. Cover with the pther rolled-out pastry lid, trimming overlap and crimping edges together.
• Carefully cut slits into top pastry lid, hold open with a knife blade and gently push the whole fish into these slots, leaving just the heads and tails showing. Add lemon juice and then seal up the slits. Brush the now completed pie with a beaten egg.
• Place in middle oven for about 30 minutes, until golden brown. Serve piping hot with a parsley sprig and lemon garnish and new potatoes.

STARGAZY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange one pastry round in a shallow pie plate or on a baking sheet. Butterfly 4 of the sardines. Brush cut sides of all sardines with some mustard and sprinkle with chopped herbs, grated lemon rind, salt and pepper. Arrange sardines on pastry round or baking sheet equidistant from one another with filleted side down and heads resting on edge of pastry. Fold up and arrange remaining sardines among the butterflied sardines, heads resting on edge of pastry. Scatter bacon and eggs. Sprinkle lemon juice over sardines, bacon and eggs.
• Trim about 1/4 inch from edge of second round of pastry and place over sardines. Brush bottom pastry at edges with egg wash and press top pastry onto bottom pastry between sardines, arranging a pastry edge around each sardine neck so that just the heads peek out. Gently press pastry around the bodies of the sardines to make a wavy surface. Cut a small vent hole in the center of the top crust. Brush top with remaining egg wash.
• Bake pie for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 15 to 25 more minutes, until top of pie is a golden brown. Before serving, tuck a sprig of parsley in each sardine mouth.