Delaney Mes: Pie's the limit (+recipes)

Blueberry and apple pie. Photo / Doug Sherring

Savoury or sweet, these pastries will have everyone asking for another slice.

Knowing it was nearly pie of the year competition time, I sat down to think about what kind of pies I may want to share in Savour. The possibilities, it turns out, are nearly endless. Thinking back to when I was a kid, my experience with pie pretty much extended to the $1 Big Ben meat pies we could buy for our school lunches.

Mum would sometimes make a chicken and leek pie, which was always a hit, and without a doubt, the word PIE would be written across it in pastry, and there would be a fight between my sisters and me over who would get the crispy pastry letters.

When I was about 13, my cousin's then girlfriend came to stay with us from England, and she introduced me to banoffee pie, that now commonplace sweet combination of banana and toffee. It became my signature dish through my teenage years.

As I got older, my high school tuck shop went through a stage of selling cheesy pumpkin pies in a wholemeal pastry. They were $2, a bargain lunch, and would always sell out. They were so good. There was still always a place for a mince and cheese though, always with tomato sauce for me.

Over the past few years in New Zealand, American-style cooking has become popular, and with it the introduction of all sorts of different sweet pies such as pumpkin, pecan, cherry. All are worth a go if you're experimenting in the kitchen. It's hard to go past a classic apple pie, though, especially if there's lemon zest in the pastry, a trick I picked up from Jamie Oliver a few years ago.

Since becoming obsessed with cooking, I've added different pies to my repertoire.

The aforementioned Jamie Oliver apple pie with lemon zest in the pastry was partly the inspiration for this apple and blueberry pie. I made it for a group of friends a few years ago when we were on holiday in Wanaka and my friend Sam liked it so much we had it three nights in a row. It's even better for breakfast the next morning. This easy food processor pastry was a signature dessert of my Grandma's right up until her 90s.

The idea to do a smoked fish pie came over lunch at Ponsonby Central Food Market. I've become friends with Jimmy, at Jimmy the Fish. He taught me how to butterfly sardines and how to make beer batter for fish, and now he has given me his tips for his famous fish pie. You can buy the pies to eat there, or take them home. He credits their excellence to his Mum's recipe using tinned asparagus.

I was dubious, even though I love an asparagus roll, but when I tried it at home it was great, offering a subtle hint of nostalgia.

The third recipe was adapted from something I wrote up on my blog a couple of years ago. It was one of those Sunday nights when I didn't know what to cook, but found pastry in the freezer, silverbeet in the garden and haloumi in the fridge. It reminds me of spanakopita, the Greek spinach and feta filo pie.

With so many great pie memories, I could have done a hundred different recipes. But I've stuck to these tried and true ones, each with a little twist, for something a bit different.

Notes
• Bakeries, get busy with your best pies. Entries are open for the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards, with a closing date of June 25. This year there's a new category for the Kiwi favourite, the Potato Top Pie. Judging day is July 16, with a gala dinner to announce the winners on July 21.

For more information, check out nzbakels.co.nz/pie_awards.cfm

• Speaking of pies, my food blog of five years, Heartbreak Pie, has been laid to rest. I have rebranded with my new blog/website delaneymes.com. I'll be uploading recipes, rants and all sorts of other food and travel related goodness. Have a look.

Try out Delaney Mes' delicious recipes at bite.co.nz

• Easy Blueberry and Apple Pie
• Jimmy's Smoked Fish Pie
• Silverbeet and Haloumi Open Pie