My daughter baked this one while I was at work, so when I came home, it was all done and ready to eat.
As soon as I set foot in the doorway, I was floored. I just could not believe the smell that was emanating from my oven. I tell you, chocolate cake itself has NOTHING on that one. It was UN-BE-LEE-VA-BLE! I thought I had just died and went to heaven. Seriously, I never thought salmon pie could smell THAT good!
I think it has a little bit to do with the crust. This one is now my official alternative to pie crust. The fact that it was my daughter who made it probably helps too… you see, I think she has a special gift when it comes to making pie crust. Hers is always soooo much better, and this time was no exception. I mean, the thing was almost flaky, despite the fact that it contains close to no fat! I don’t know how she does it, but I sure wish she would share her secret! 
As for the filling… oh my yum! All those chunks of tender potatoes, and big pieces of salmon, the subtle taste of the cheese, the occasional crunch from the peas and corn, all this brought together by the creaminess of the potatoes that were mashed with buttermilk and plain yogurt. OOOOH! Wow. I’ve never tasted salmon pie that good before. From now on, for me, THIS, is salmon pie. Let’s just say that never again, I will wonder what to do with that leftover salmon!!!
And you know what the best part is? I think even Mr. Shy Salmon realized just how good a dish he had just served in creating, because this time, he accepted to pose proudly for the camera! YAY!!! (although my batteries did die half-way through the shoot and I had to give them a quick charge… did anybody say jinx?)
I chose to serve this with a super quick and easy fennel salad. I shall give you that recipe in a separate post.
Ingredients
Serves 6
Crust
- 1 cup spelt flour
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 egg
Filling
- 700g (about 6-7) Yukon Gold potatoes, skin on, quartered
- 500g cooked salmon
- 1 cup low fat plain yogurt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ½ cup frozen corn
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 100g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
Crust
- Whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk oil, milk and egg; pour over flour. Stir to form fairly smooth dough. On floured surface, knead until smooth, 2 minutes. Press into disc; wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Filling
- Preheat oven to 375F
- Cook potatoes in salted boiling water until nice and tender. Drain and transfer them to a large mixing bowl.
- With a potato masher, give them a quick smash but don’t over do it. You want really chunky mashed potatoes.
- Add plain yogurt, buttermilk, salt, pepper, parlsey, peas and corn. Stir gently until well combined.
- Very delicately fold grated cheese and cooked salmon into the potato mixture. You want to have nice big chunks of salmon.
Assembly
- On floured surface, roll out dough to form a 18 inch disc. Fit into greased (brush with olive oil) 9 inch cast iron skillet, letting excess hang over edge.
- Mound filling in center; lift pastry up over filling, letting it fall naturally into folds and leaving 2-3 inch opening in the center. Brush dough with egg white, sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake in bottom third of oven until pastry is golden and filling is steaming, about 45 minutes. Let stand for 10 – 15 minutes before cutting into wedges.
O my word! How truly beautiful!! I mean I never thought I would be saying that salmon in beautiful but THIS is!! Happy Mother’s Day to you! How sweet that your daughter made this!!
Katrina
Salmon and cheese in a pie! This recipe looks amazing. I adore salmon and I must admit I have never had a leftover salmon problem before. What is that exactly? Luckily this looks good enough to make with purpose-bought salmon.
greetings, i was wondering would white whole wheat flour sub for the spelt? or even regular white flour?
The original recipe I adapted this one from called for regular all purpose flour, so I don’t think it would be a problem. Of course, the flavor wouldn’t be quite the same and you would lose a lot of nutrients, but it would still work…
WOW. I have to make that this week!! YUM
Thanks Sarah! I hope you like it as much as I did!
…ok lol i know imma little obsessed but i am making this very soon so i was wondering about the baking dish, my cast iron is 11 inches, so i was considering an 8 inch cake pan…what do yu think or do yu have any other suggestions?
Erm… use this as an excuse to buy a brand new cast iron skillet? I know that’s what I would do!
Just kidding… seriously, I don’t see why a cake pan wouldn’t work, or even a pie dish!
ok so i made this tonight and it was so delish, i didn’t have fresh parsley or dried so i sub’d dried savory & pepper jack instead of the cheddar & i’ll tell yu this one is going in the repertoire
YAY!!
So glad you liked! Ain’t that crust sometin’ else? 
Thanks much for the feedback! I always appreciate that!
Thank you for this delicious recipe!
I thought you and you raja might like to know — I tried it with substituting all-purpose flour for the spelt. Next time I do this, I’d probably reduce the liquid in the crust by about 25%. With a direct AP-to-spelt substitution, the crust was much to liquidy to knead. So, I added about a cup of bread flour and a touch more baking powder until the dough was kneadable. I also ended up increasing the baking time by about 30 minutes.
All that said — yum yum yum!! My dinner was delicious (and all my dinners this week will be delicious thanks to the power of leftovers)!! Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe with the world
Thank you so much! What awesome feedback.
I’m really glad you liked the recipe! Maybe whole wheat would’ve been a better substitution… anywho, I’m happy to know that you made it work nonetheless. That’s what cooking is all about.
Enjoy the leftovers!
je cherchais une recette de pâté au saumon qui sort de l’ordinaire pour ma planification de Pâques ..et je suis atterrie chez toi…quel bonheur…ton blog est tout en couleur…je sens que je vais y faire de bien belles trouvailles…hihihi j’adore …bien le bonjour à toi
)
Every morning I look at foodgawker and open the recipes that look nice in tabs. Every morning, I look at something, open it, and it is from your blog. I don’t think there is are many things on here that I don’t drool over. This pie will have to be made as soon as I’m back in the states!! Thanks you for tantalising my tastebuds again and again
Thanks Hannah, I am so super flushed by your comment! You are just too kind, really! So glad I can help inspire you!
Amazing recipe! Trying it out for tea tonight, let’s hope it turns out as good as yours looks!
Also using oat milk with cream of tartar to sub buttermilk in the crust. And some cheeky pumpkin in the mixture too!
YAY! Happy to hear! Hope you like it… let me know how it turns out!
This looks amazing! I’m making it as a special dinner for my mom tonight! Do you think sweet potatoes would be good or should I stick to the Yukons?
To be honest, Nicole, If I was to make this again, I would probably use sweet potatoes. Not sure I care for their color in this dish, but I much prefer their nutritional value!
If you do make the substitition, make sure you let me know how it turned out!
Just wanted to let you know that I made this pie for dinner tonight and it was delicious! I added some smoked salmon and small chunks of cream cheese to the mixture and they melted down to give some really nice creamy bites to it as well. Thanks for the great recipe! I will definitely be making it again
So happy to hear, Lisa! Thank you for your awesome feedback, I appreciate your taking the time to do that. Love the addition of smoked salmon! Might have to try that myself now!
Amazing crust, amazing filling! I didn’t think potato could taste so creamy without butter or milk. And Sonia came to the rescue with my queries about whether to peel the potatoes or not (so thanks again). I didn’t have any leftover salmon so I poached them in foil parcels with a little chopped spring onion and put that in with the mix. I added a chopped hard boiled egg to the filling too as I love the texture and taste of boiled egg and fish. Another success, thank you. Look forward to trying more.
Julie, you are too kind! Thank you so much. Reading all your brilliant reviews this morning truly made my day! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
You seriously rock!!!
ps. LOVE the idea of adding hard boiled eggs to this. GENIUS! Will have to give it a try!
I have been so meaning to make this for entirely too long…it will be on the table within the week…no excuses with spelt in the cupboard!!..Question…do you think I could sub chunks of celery “rave” (the white, quite unattractive-yet-tasty bulb-y round!)for the potatoes?…I do think that sweet potatoes could work..but the colour/flavours could clash with the filling..Oh..and I second the previous comment about adding in a chopped hard-boiled egg..that would be beautiful and delish simultaneously!…
By the way…your crust is intimidatingly gorgeous and, well…perfect!
Since the potatoes here don’t really work as a “binding” agent, as is often the case with salmon pie, you could use pretty much anything you want. Celery rave is a brilliant idea! I’d be very curious to hear your thoughts if you ever tried it!
And again, thank you so much for your super kind comment! I am totally flushed!
Looks delicious, definitely going to try it out this week
! I was wondering how you cooked the salmon and for how long etc, before adding it to the pie mix. Mine always ends up overdone! 
I believe I had baked that one in the oven, if aluminum foil. The trick is to add onions, herbs and lemon slices to the cavity, like I did here, then you wrap in in foil and bake in a 375F oven for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness (generally, about 20-25 minutes for a whole salmon will do the trick). Your fish is done when the flesh just turns opaque (I actually like mine with a little bit of translucence to it still)
Let me know how your pie (and salmon) turns out!