After shooting one of our classes a few weeks ago, Nick (my business partner) told me that our cameraman, Daniel, is a pescetarian. O, he eats only fish. The next day, I thought: what would a person who only eats fish miss eating? Probably a pie, since there are so few pies that feature fish. Since there is a huge piece of really fresh swordfish in my fridge, I decided to make that into a pie.

I think he’d probably like it spicy, but since he is an American, probably not too spicy. I used Indian spices, and my cheat pastry to make these pies. I didn’t have the chance to give them to Daniel, but I hope the thoughts count.

These are delicious. And, as usual, you will never buy puff pastry from anywhere again, once you’ve mastered the art of making simple puff pastry. These take less than an hour to make, and worth every ounce of your effort.

Daniel’s Swordfish Pie

Daniel’s Swordfish Pie



Half of Cheat Puff Pastry

1 egg, beaten for egg wash


200g sword fish filet, diced

100g potatoes, diced and deep fried (optional to fry)

100g carrots, diced

a handful or two of frozen peas

25g Ghee (or oil or butter)

50g Onions, diced

1tsp grated ginger

1tsp grated garlic

Spices for filings

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tso ground turmeric

1tsp ground chilli peppers

salt and pepper to taste


  1. Make the pastry as per the instructions.
  2. Roll pastry to about 3mm thick, cut into 16 squares.
  3. Filings
  4. Heat a pan and melt the ghee.
  5. Fry the onions until soft, then add all the spices.
  6. Add the potatoes and fry until cooked.
  7. Add the rest of the vegetables.
  8. Stir in the sword fish, but do not cook through. You want it to cook in the oven.
  9. Cool the filings to room temperature.
  10. Wrap
  11. Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.
  12. Wrap about 1.5 tsp of filings into each piece of pastry.
  13. Seal with a fork (do not dip fork into egg wash)
  14. Then egg wash the pie.
  15. Bake for 20 minutes on a middle rack until the puff pastry is dry between the layers.