Bacon Salmon Pie

The original for this recipe came from the old, trusty Purity cookbook -- and then I went and made it more complicated than it had to be, but man was it delicious. I could tell you that comfort food should not be complex; I could tell you that I made a mess of my kitchen; but most importantly, I should tell you that this pie was awesome and Cinnilla and I were thrilled that there'd be leftovers.

Although it is my standby for many things, the Purity cookbook reminds me of its age whenever its dinner recipes call for things like canned salmon and instant minced onions. So admittedly, standing there in the grocery store and choosing between the no-muss can of pre-cooked salmon or the pricier and uncooked but so-delicious-looking fresh salmon filet, I made my own life more difficult. Still, putting this recipe together only took about an hour (plus another 20 minutes for baking). The trick is to do multiple things at once: fry the bacon while the salmon is baking, chop the veggies while the bacon is frying, make the biscuit dough in between stirring the sauce, and -- if you are like me and do sometimes cheat -- steam the veggies in the microwave at the end.

BACON SALMON PIE

1 extra-large salmon filet

Heat oven to 400. Add a bit of butter to pan, put pan in oven. When butter is melted, add salmon filet and top with salt and pepper. Bake about 20 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

After you remove the salmon, leave the oven on and raise the heat to 450.

6 slices of bacon cut into 1-inch pieces
1/6 C chopped onion (you will need 1/2 C onion in total; just chop some onion and divide the pile into 3 equal parts.)

Fry bacon with onion until bacon is crispy. Remove bacon from the pan, but leave the caramelized onion with the drippings (save the drippings).

1/4 C bacon drippings (I only had about 1/8 C from my bacon frying, so I added 1/8 C butter to compensate)
1/6 C fresh chopped onion
1/6 C caramelized onion
1/3 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
dash of pepper
1/2 tsp summer savoury
2 T fresh chopped parsley (or 1/2 tsp dried parsley if you can't find fresh)
2 C milk

Over the stove, letting the butter melt, add everything except the milk to the bacon drippings until you have a smooth paste. Then, gradually add the milk, stirring and cooking on low-to-medium heat until sauce thickens.

For the biscuit crust:
1 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C shortening
1/4 C grated cheddar
1/6 C chopped onion
1/2 C milk

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, then gradually cut in the shortening. Add cheddar and onion; stir. (The cheese and onion are optional; I added them on a whim but I think they were really good.) Add milk, and stir for fluffy biscuit dough.

TO ASSEMBLE:

Flake the salmon into pieces.
Add salmon to casserole dish.
Add bacon.
Add white sauce.
Add about 2 cups of any cooked vegetables you prefer. I used broccoli, corn and asparagus, steamed for a couple of minutes in the microwave.

Stir together, then pat your biscuit crust into place on top.

Bake at 450 for about 18-20 minutes.



This is "pie" in a "shepherd's pie" sort of way, but "casserole" just sounds too unappetizing to do this baby justice. Or maybe that's just me.