Savoury Fish and Spinach Hand Pies

This recipe is for a small, hand pie in a shape of a fish. It's a great way to use up leftover fish, make a quick snack or a filling addition to your kid's lunch box. Can be eaten warm or cold, reheated in the microwave or air fryer.

It's a fun activity if you want to involve the little ones in the process of cooking or trick them into eating fish.

Recipe can be easily multiplied and/or adjusted.

You can make it in 30 min thanks to store-bought pastry and 3D printed cookie cutters.

For 2 fish pastries:

-50g salmon bits - poached, roasted, leftovers or tinned

-40g spinach- cooked from fresh or frozen, chopped and with water squeezed out as much as possible

-40g cream cheese

-10g grated cheddar cheese (optional)

-2TBS finely chopped onion ---- you can also use shallot or scallions or replace altogether with 1tsp of onion powder

-1 garlic clove, minced---- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

-zest from 1 lemon and 2tsp lemon juice

Additionally:

-1TBS milk or 1 small egg for egg wash

-1 roll of store bought puff pastry (320g)

-pastry brush, baking parchment, rolling pin, a handful of flour

I provided STL files for the exact same cookie cutters I used to make this project.

The sizes are big enough to make 2 fish pies out of one puff pastry sheet.

Printed with PLA, with retraction (absolutely necessary!).

If you don't have a 3D printer, you can print a JPG of a fish outline and cut the pastry by hand with a knife and scoring the top layer to make scales/fish face.

To make the salmon/spinach filling simply combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Add a pinch of pepper and salt.

Take the puff pastry out of the fridge and leave it to warm up for 10 min before unrolling.

Use a rolling pin to flatten the sheet a little bit. This action will prevent the pastry from puffing up too much and helps preserve the shape or the fish.

Use the 3D printed cookie cutters to cut the shapes out of the pastry or freestyle it with a knife.

If the dough is sticking to the rolling pin or the cutters, dust everything with some flour.

One pastry sheet will only be enough for 2 hand pies.

Spoon half the fish filling onto the pastry leaving a few mm border free of filling.

Place the scaly top fish pastry on top and use a fork to scrimp the edges all around the fish outline.

Apply a dab of water to the the fins for better adhesion and slide them under the pastry. Dab a drop of water to the small pastry circle and "glue" the eye in position.

Transfer the pastries to a flat baking sheet and brush with an egg wash.

Bake for 18-20 min at 170C in the fan assisted oven or air fryer.