This recipe is from a restaurant in Sydney called The Boathouse. It has a reputation for having the best snapper pie in Sydney, and people come from miles just to sample it. I made it last night for the second time, and all my guests at my dinner party raved about it. I have just copied the recipe from the website and pasted it directly below.
Snapper Pie
If you walk into a fish shop in Sydney and order big quantities of snapper and fish stock, there is a good chance you will be asked if you are making this recipe. That's how well known it is.
I first cooked it when the Herald published a copy of the recipe in the Good Living supplement a couple of years ago. That weekend Bondi sold out of snapper as others discovered it like I did. In fact the first snapper pie I cooked didn't actually use snapper for that reason. Controversially, I actually prefer Blue Eye Cod instead of snapper - which was a recommendation from a fish-monger in Edgecliff. The flavour is richer and fish more meaty. If that makes sense.
The recipe comes from the Boathouse in Blackwattle Bay in Glebe, which is a bit of a Sydney institution. The restaurant sits above the Sydney University Women's Rowing Club and has floor to ceiling glass on three sides so there are great views of the city skyline. Snapper pie is their signature dish and the waiters 'lift the lid' off the pie when they serve it. Their oysters are worth the trip as well.
This is a great dish to make for dinner parties, as it is easily expanded for bigger groups. Although the amount of onion chopping gets fairly intense and lots of wine drinking or food processoring is recommended. Expect praise if you make this - there's something about the Soubise sauce that is addictive. Not recommended if you are on a diet - but sometimes you've just gotta relax and enjoy it.
INGREDIENTS
* 800g of pink snapper fillet (or blue eye cod)
* 4 dessertspoons white truffle oil
* 1kg puff pastry
Soubaise sauce
* 1.2kg sliced onions
* 1 tspn olive oil
* 400ml fish stock (homemade is best)
* 800ml cream
* 300g diced onion
WHAT TO DO
Soubise sauce: Sweat onions with olive oil and a little salt. Cook until the onions take on a very light brown colour, cool, then add fish stock and reduce by half. Add cream, and recude by half or until a thick cream consistency is reached. Remove from heat.
T
o cook: In a separate pan, sweat the diced onion in a little olive oil. Meanwhile, blend the onion cream mixture, then add the cooked diced onion and adjust the seasoning. To assemble, roll pastry 1/2cm thick and cut into four ovals which are 3cm wider than the pie dishes. In each pie dish, spoon about two tablespoons of soubise sauce. Lay 200g of snapper on the sauce, cover with another tablespoon of sauce and a dessertspoon of truffle oil, then lay puff pastry lid and press down the sides. Make cool shapes and designs on the top of the pie with the left over pastry. Glaze with egg wash. Cook pies for 25 minutes at 260C. Rest for a few minutes before serving. Serve with mashed potatoes and smoked tomatoes. Serves 8.
For Tai - Snapper pie recipe.
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