Pie Recipes: Pastry Pies, Cottage and Fish Pies, Tarts and More

These pie recipes are the pies I cook at Casa Adora in Jaén: pastry pies with a puff pastry lid or a filo wrap, mash-topped cottage, shepherd's and fish pies, and tarts and a quiche for when you want a pastry case without a lid. I write for a mostly UK audience, so these are savoury pie recipes UK cooks will recognise, and several are scaled for one.

In the UK a pie usually means pastry, yet a cottage pie or a fish pie wears a lid of mash instead. So this page sorts the pies by what goes on top, and you can pick by the kind of pie you fancy.

Jump to: Which Recipe? · Pastry Pies · Potato-Topped Pies · Tarts and Quiche · Pie Notes

Which Pie Recipe Should I Cook?

Start with how much time you have and what is in the fridge.

• A slow-cooked filling under puff pastry: Steak and Ale Pie for One.
• A vegetarian pastry pie: Homity Pie for One.
• Using up the Sunday roast: Leftover Lamb Shepherd's Pie or Left Over Lamb with Goat's Cheese Pie.
• Vegan: Vegan Lentil Mushroom Shepherd's Pie for One.
• Fish, without the cream: No-Cream All-in-One Fish Pie.
• Vegetarian, no pastry at all: Layered Vegetable Cake ooops, Pie.
• A pastry case with no lid: Puff Pastry Pepper Tart with Roasted Peppers and Feta, Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart with Balsamic Onions and Wild Asparagus or Debbie's Potato Crust Quiche for a gluten free option.

Pastry Pie Recipes: Puff Pastry, Shortcrust and Filo

The pies most people picture. My Steak and Ale Pie for One starts with a pack of Mercadona beef chunks, which I slow cook overnight with dark ale and stock, then cool a little before the puff pastry lid goes on. For a vegetarian pastry pie, Homity Pie for One is baked in a small tart tin, and it is a pie I remember from my grandparents' kitchen in south London.

If you like puff pastry pie recipes, Chicken and Leek Puff Pastry Pie is the classic. For a lighter wrap, Savoury Filo Pastry Pie swaps the lid for layers of filo, and Left Over Lamb with Goat's Cheese Pie turns leftover roast lamb into something a little more special in filo too.

Potato-Topped Pies: Cottage, Shepherd's and Fish Pie Recipes

Comfort food under a blanket of mash. Cottage Pie with Cauliflower and Cheese Mash adds cauliflower and cheese to the topping, while Slow Cooker Beef Stew Cottage Pie starts from a beef stew in the slow cooker.

For lamb, Leftover Lamb Shepherd's Pie is proper comfort food built on the bone, and Sweet and Spicy Shepherd's Pie gives the filling a sweeter, spicier turn. No-Cream All-in-One Fish Pie is a fish pie without the faff, and A Pie With No Name is topped with sliced potato rather than mash.

Two of these need no meat at all. Layered Vegetable Cake ooops, Pie is a vegetarian layered vegetable and cheese bake under potato, and Vegan Lentil Mushroom Shepherd's Pie for One is my vegan answer, with brown lentils and mushrooms in a rich gravy under creamy mash, baked in a small oval gratin dish.

Tarts and Quiche: Pastry Cases Without a Lid

Not strictly pies, but they belong here. Sometimes Only a Pie Will Do is a caramelised onion, asparagus and goat's cheese tart, and Roasted Cherry Tomato Tart with Balsamic Onions and Wild Asparagus pairs roasted tomatoes with balsamic onions. Tomatoey Tart With Caramelised Onions leans on sweet onions, and Puff Pastry Pepper Tart with Roasted Peppers and Feta is the quick one, built on ready-rolled puff pastry.

For something different, Debbie's Potato Crust Quiche swaps the pastry for a pressed potato crust, which makes it gluten free. It is baked in a 23cm dish with a filling of eggs, cottage cheese, onion and bacon, and serves four.

Pie Notes from My Kitchen

• Cool the filling first. Give a hot filling ten to fifteen minutes before the pastry lid goes on, or the pastry steams and turns soft.
• Use a baking tray. Stand the pie dish on a tray to catch any bubbling over.
• Shortcrust in Spain. Supermarket masa quebrada is usually made with vegetable oil or butter, so it suits vegetarians. Vegetarians should still check the label.
• Cheese and rennet. Cheddar and other hard cheeses are made with animal rennet, so vegetarians should check the label.
• Floury potatoes for the topping. They mash dry and fluffy, which suits a baked pie top.

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Footnote

These pie recipes are part of my Potato Recipes and Veggie & Vegan Recipes collections.
Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef