As a rule, I prefer food that is made for sharing: the vast potato-crowned pie; a deep casserole brought to the table with a ladle; apizza the size of abrie, torn up and passed around. But there is also something appealing about having a dish all to one's self. Asmall china ramekin filled with acloud of cheese soufflé, a dressed crab served in its shell, or an individual pork pie. A little crust to break and a filling to expose and devour all to yourself.
A meal can be a celebration of both. The selfish "it's-all-mine" little pie and the big pudding that gets passed round the table with aknife and aspoon.
Filo or phyllo, that tissue-thin pastry used for wrapping parcels of feta cheese and spinach, is possibly better for something that is to be served individually than for a dish to be shared. Its spectacularly fragile nature – the dough is rolled so thin that it shatters like ice on apond – can be messy for slicing. If you are not careful, everyone ends up with a plate of crumbs and the table becomes ashambles. Such light pastry seems to cry out to be used for one-serving parcels or one-per-person pies. This week Iused sheets of filo pastry to encase tiny fish pies filled with haddock and prawns, brushing agreen herb butter between each layer of pastry.
Pudding, on the other hand, was all about sharing: a sticky loaf passed from one person to the next – adecadent affair made from hot cross buns held together with fudge sauce. An Easter pudding that smelled of bun spices, bananas and butterscotch. And just as everyone has taken their share and handed it to the next, then along comes a jug of cream, a fat one, to pour over and pass round.
Hot cross bun, toffee and banana pudding
Serves 6
bananas 3, slightly under ripe
hot cross buns 3
light muscovado sugar 150g
double cream 375ml
vanilla extract
To serve:
double cream
You will also need a loaf tin measuring approximately 18cm x 9cm x 7cm deep
Directions
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 3. Peel and slice the bananas into thick rounds. Slice the hot cross buns and tear them into small pieces.
Put the sugar and cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as the sugar has melted add the vanilla extract and set aside.
Line the tin with baking parchment, leaving a little overhanging the edges. Pour some of the butterscotch sauce into the tin then pile in the torn pieces of hot cross bun and the banana. Pour over the rest of the butterscotch sauce and press the bun pieces down so that they become saturated with the sauce.
Bake for 30 minutes until lightly firm. Leave for 10-20 minutes before turning out and cutting into thick slices. Serve with double cream.
Prawn and haddock pie, herb butter filo
Serves 4
For the herb butter:
butter 200g
dill 10g
chives 10g
For the filling:
prawns 325g, large, raw and peeled
haddock 350g
crème fraîche 200ml
tarragon 15g
egg yolks 3
For the crust:
filo pastry 8 sheets
You will also need 4 x metal pie tins approximately 9 cm in diameter, 4 cm high
Directions
Melt the butter, chop the herbs finely and set aside in a warm place to keep the butter liquid. (I find it easiest to melt the butter then pour it into a food processor, add the herbs then process until bright green and finely speckled.)
Cut two sheets of filo in half and brush them generously with the herb butter. Place them, loosely on top of one another, in the pie cases, leaving plenty of pastry overhanging the edges. Repeat with the remaining pastry, butter and pie cases.
Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6 and place a metal baking sheet in the oven. Put the crème fraîche in a saucepan and warm over a moderate heat. Remove and discard the skin from the haddock, cut the flesh into large pieces about 3cm square, then add to the crème fraîche. Stir in the prawns.
Chop the tarragon leaves and add to the fish and crème fraîche, then season with salt and a little pepper. Let the fish cook for five minutes then lift it out of the sauce with a draining spoon and place it in the pastry-lined cases.
Let the cream sauce cool a little. Beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork, then stir into the cream sauce. Spoon or pour the sauce on top of the fish.
Fold the overhanging pastry over the top of the pie, twisting the sheets a little as you go so they sit in loose folds. Brush with a little more of the herb butter.
Place the pies on the hot baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, covering loosely with foil if the pastry appears to be browning too quickly. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. If you wish, run a palette knife around the edges of the pastry to loosen it from the dish, then carefully remove and place on plates.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @NigelSlater
