One of the best things about food blogging is meeting fellow bloggers. Case in point is Christie from Fig & Cherry who has proved to be a great blogging friend and a lot of fun to hang out with. We have a lot in common, from obviously loving food, Dexter, pillow menus, hotels to being bossy chatterboxes. So when she read about our visit to Dunes, we got to talking and she mentioned that she hadn’t been to Palm Beach before. It seemed a tragedy for a Sydney-Sider so we sought to rectify this as soon as possible. However the weather gods decided to not let us have our picnic in the end. Such is the crazy weather that we’ve been having lately.
I was watching Food Safari’s episode on England and was fascinated by the way they made Pork Pies. I had one whilst in London and it was delicious, particularly the pastry (just don’t look at the nutritional information, you’ll think it’s a misprint but I’m afraid not!). I had heard that the traditional way to make English pastry for things such as Steak and Kidney pie is through using Suet ( the hard fat around the kidneys and loins in beef and sheep) but I had yet to cook with it. Sure it wasn’t in anyway healthy but I figure a few times eating it in your lifetime can’t hurt. But I dipped a trepidatious toe in the Suet pool by buying a Suet mix where I simply added flour, cold water and salt to create the pastry. If it worked, I’d look at ordering some from the butcher’s. Because I was pressed for time as I was making this on a Friday I took some shortcuts with the pastry and frozen spinach.
We woke on the Saturday morning to a light howling of wind and an overcast day. It seemed that today was not going to be the day to go to Palm Beach so we made alternate plans. As for the fate of this pie? It was my husband’s lunch, well received, and eaten picnic style with his hands. Just in front of a computer.
Italo Anglo Picnic Pie: Mortadella, Ricotta and Olive pie
For the pastry
- 1 250g/9oz packet Suet mix
- 1/3 cup cold water
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked salt
- Plus 1 sheet of puff pastry, cut into the shape of the base of the springform. Store in fridge until ready.
For the filling
- 500g/1 pound ricotta cheese
- 250g/1/2 pound packet frozen spinach, thawed
- 200g/7ozs mortadella with olives, cut into pieces
- 125g/4ozs reggiano grated finely
- 1 clove garlic chopped
- 1/2 spanish red onion, chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten lightly
- 1.5 teaspoons smoked salt
- Pepper
- 10 stuffed, pitted olives
- 2 tablespoons of milk to glaze
Springform tin, buttered and lined at the bottom with parchment
1. Make suet pastry according to directions (basically mix the water, flour, salt and Suet mix in a bowl and knead into a small ball) and place in fridge for 15 minutes. Preheat oven on 200C.
2. Meanwhile put together the filling. Mix all ingredients except for olives in a bowl and keep in fridge.
3. Roll out suet pastry into as large as circle as you can make on a lightly floured board with a floured rolling pin (it should cover the bottom and go all the way up the sides of the springform tin, I used a measuring tape just in case) and lift into the tin carefully and fit into the sides of the tin leaving some hanging over the edges.
With puff pastry round on top of filling
4. Place filling inside and pat down so that it is smooth. Stud with olives and then take the puff pastry round from the fridge and place on top of the filling. Then fold suet pastry edges over and seal. Poke steam holes with a fork and brush with milk.
5. Bake for 15 minutes at 200c and then lower the temperature to 180C and bake for 35 minutes until the edges are golden. The puff pastry centre may not be golden so raise the temperature up to 200C and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until the whole top is golden. Leave for about half an hour to cool or do as we wanted to do and leave it, once cooled in the fridge to eat the next day, cold on a picnic with some good friends.
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38 Comments | Add your own
Dillon and I are sitting here rugged up on the lounge watching Masterchef and drooling over your pics. The snow is falling outside and we are very sad we never got to eat this gorgeous pie! xx
This looks excellent, and look how perfectly you browned it! Suet mix sounds a bit scary but I suppose it’s no worse than bacon fat
wow that looks really delicious! Did you buy suet mix from the grocery store?
Ahh, the pork pie is a funny dish. Us british do have some strange food stuffs
That pie looks lovely, I am a huge fan of suet. A stew is not a stew without suet dumplings
Lorraine, that pie looks delicious! I also have the Smoked Maldon sea salt, it tastes fab! I will make this pie this weekend when I will get fresh sheep ricotta!
this looks delicous. I go crazy for pies. In the past suet was widely used here too.
I have British friends who used to make a dish called “toad in a hole” with suet mix… if only I knew then what I know now about it’s nutritional content! It is very yummy though, and your pie looks delish!
Looks fab – nice job! Love, love love pies…
shez – Toad-in-the-Hole is sausages baked in Yorkshire Pudding, never ever heard it made with suet mix before!
I would love to have a taste of that! Our weather today here in Lakeland FL USA at 6:55 am was 28 degrees. The Sunshine State had the sunshine but no heat today!
That pie looks amazing!
What was the suet pastry like?
This looks beautiful! They make smoked maldon? I wonder if I can find that in the US.
I wish I had tried cooking with vegetarian suet when I had the chance to buy it in the UK – chances of finding it here are slim – but this looks like an interesting pie!
This looks utterly amazing! I will have to try this; the only tricky part will be finding suet.
That pie looks so good! What a perfect slice!
yum, and sounds like a perfect pie for picnics. i’ve often been curious about cooking with suet too. oh and caul is fascinating as well!
Wow, that looks amazing! Very classic.
Oooo looks delicious and I love smoked salts! Great way to add flavour, not that this needs it:-)
Looks really delicious. I never really made pastry using suet. It’s a bit challenging to find here.
Cheers,
Elra
I’m not a big fan of suet, having had to clean loads of it in the past for traditional Christmas puddings. Also, I don’t really like the mouthfeel of suet. But your pie looks absolutely gorgeous, and it’s interesting to see that Maldon now has a smoked salt!
Now traditionally speaking a suet pastry is used for a steak and kidney pudding which is steamed and normal pastry for a baked pie. Pork pie pastry is a hot water crust – made by melting lard in hot water. Mmmm we British love our animal fats!
Wow, the pie looks really delicious!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm pieeeee! That perfectly golden crust looks so fantastic and it has got ricotta so winnah ^^!
This reminds me of the deep dish pizza company that sponsored American Idol last year.. it always made me so hungry. They no longer sponsor the show this year but it still pops up now and again! Sorry I’m morphing your lovely pie into a deep dish pizza, it’s just because I haven’t had one before.
How did you find the smoked salt? I haven’t tried it before but I get the feeling it must smell (and taste) amazing. Speaking of which, I cooked broccoli the Heston Blumenthal way last night and it was really good! You get a very smoky effect, and it’s sooo easy. Do google it if the sound of this interests you.
x
Looks delicious, Lorraine! I would have used a hot-water crust—suet is for puddings, savoury or sweet—but I’m sure it tasted delicious. Mmmm… mortadella…
Nigella has a recipe for the hot-water crust in HTBADG, if you’re interested. It’s in the Game Pie recipe.
such a pretty pie, and it’s full of CHEESE! pie for dinner and pie for dessert and i’m a happy gal.
Wow, what a gorgeous pie! It looks really scrumptious!
Cheers,
Rosa
I love the picture! the one with a slice.
Hi Christie-Yes what a pity! it would have been fun. Maybe when you get back
Hi Heidi-Hehe I hear you, bacon fat at first sound sounds a bit unhealthy too but once or twice a year can’t be too bad for you. Thanks!
Hi Kathy-Yup the local Coles had it in a packet. You just add water
Hi Jorden-Ah yes dumplings, good idea! I look forward to making some for the upcoming winter
Hi Sophie-Mmm delicious, fresh sheep’s ricotta! Thankyou so much!
Hi snookydoodle-Me too, I’m a pie fiend
Ahh ok, good to know! 
Hi shez-Oh yes I remember hearing about things like Toad in the Hole and Spotted Dick when I was a teenager and my friends and I would have a good chuckle at the names! I think Toad in the Hole is Yorkshire pudding with sausages or something like that
Hi Angela-Aha! Yes Angela to the rescue, yes a friend cooked it for me once. It was rather delicious from memory
Hi Julia-Oh no, you poor thing!
We’re having the polar opposite weather here!
Hi Tina-I had it cold so it probably wasn’t quite as amazing as it was warm but it was still very nice and quite sturdy which meant it was ideal for transporting
Hi Sara-Yes they make it in a smaller box than here. It’s very smoky indeed and definitely nice to have in the store cupboard
Hi Johanna-yes indeed, I don’t think I’ve ever seen vegetarian suet here! Maybe a health food store could import it for you?
Hi cwhf-Thankyou so much!
If you can’t get suet I would just make a regular pastry (it would be nice with any pastry I think 
)
Hi Kevin-Thankyou so much!
Hi Helen-Thanks! Yes all of those unusual ingredients (for us anyway) are so fun to cook with.
Hi Sara-Thanks so much!
Hi Marc-Thankyou! I loved smoked items and the salt is a very easy way to impart the flavour
Hi elra-Thanks! Ahh ok, what a shame but I think this would be really nice made with regular pastry too
Hi Y-That might give me PTSD of suet too! Perhaps because I didn’t use fresh suet but the mouthfeel of the pastry was quite similar to regular pastry.
Hi Rachel-Ah good to know! As you can see this is my first time with suet. Lard, now that’s another scary health wise ingredient
Hi pigpigscorner-Thankyou so much!
Hi Ffichiban-Thanks! Pastry just isn’t as good unless it’s golden. I’m a total ricotta addict too
Hi Su-yin-Ahh was it like a Chicago pizza? I loved those when I was in Chicago and yes they’re quite deep pie like. The smoked Maldon is really good! I wouldn’t use it all the time but it’s nice if you want to give a dish a smoky air to it
Oooh thankyou for the recipe tip, sounds great and I adore broccoli!
Hi Angela-Yes I’m all for making as many versions with different pastries
I remember that pie, it’s in the cutest tin ever! I’d love one of those tins but have never seen one here 
Hi grace-It is packed with ricotta indeed! Haha yes that’s true, pie for both courses is not a bad thing at all.
Hi Rosa-Thankyou so much!
Hi Soma-Thanks so much
I really wanted to show what it looked like in the middle.
OMG, that is just stunning. What a beautiful pie!
Hi Chuck-Thankyou so much!
The British pork pie is a national institution, and I’m lucky that the best ones in the entire land are made by the butcher just around the corner. Of course, there is a certain amount of subjectivity in identifying the ‘best in the land’, and many will argue about my choice. They would clearly be wrong, though.
Yours is excepted from this, as it was made in Oz. It looks terribly good, and I’ll give the recipe a whirl myself.
Once you can make a good pie, you can accomplish anything. It’s a vital life skill.
(whoops. typo in the url. Sorry)
Hi rich-Lucky you!
Thanks it’s not quite to the dizzy standards of a pork pie but for a picnic, it’s pretty good. Yes there’s a big sense of pride in producing a golden hued aromatic pie! 
This looks fabulous – I think my husband would love it!
Hi Madam Chow-Thankyou so much!
My husband loved it!
ohhh try this!!!
http://www.shootingtimes.co.uk/recipes/153877/Partridge_and_rabbit_steamed_suet_pudding.html
real traditional british cooking – steamed suet pudding
the pie looks delicious..i want to cook but there is no chance to find Suet mix around the place I live. Is there anything I can use instead of it?
Beautiful! And boy will my Mortadella addicted hubby be happy! Thanks so much once again.
So, i have made this recipe last night and my hubby loves me even more than ever now! so thanks,,great great post!
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