Newsletter # 19 – Salamanca Markets and the Curried scallop pie.

In a country like Australia where we enjoy authentic cuisine from many different countries it is still possible to find offerings that are unique to a smaller part of Australia.

Yes, it is surprising that variations in cuisine do occur within Australia; some dishes have become national icons like the meat pie, the Democracy sausage and the lamington. The same dish may also be known by a different name in a different part of Australia. Today’s recipe is an example of a dish that is famous for its relative isolation – Tasmania’s Curried Scallop Pie.

SUCCESS

From Smithton in the island state’s North-West, to Tasmania’s state capital, Hobart, in the South-East and many points in between, when the scallops are running the curried scallop pie is being baked.

But before we look at the pie recipe, let’s have a quick look at Hobart’s famous Salamanca Markets where you will definitely find this tasty speciality.

Chris and I had only visited the markets once before, in 1983, having missed it on two more recent visits. The July 2025 Tasmanian visit was my ninth and Chris’s fourth (yes, we love Tasmania) and this time we made sure we were in Hobart on the Saturday, when the Salamanca Markets are always on.

The markets have been running since 1972, and they had become much larger since our previous visit. Nestled close to the picturesque harbour with the backdrop of the re-purposed Heritage sandstone warehouses the markets stretch about 500 metres along Salamanca Place from the Davey Street intersection.

For those people where the very mention of a market evokes thoughts of “the same old stuff”, Salamanca has more than 350 stalls that offer something uniquely Tasmanian including food, wine, woodwork, spirits, handicrafts and so much more.

The markets open at 8.30 am and we arrived a little before they officially opened to find that most stalls were ready to trade. The morning was chilly, but the skies were clear, and the sunny weather continued.

Starting at Davey Street end, Chris and I worked our way down Salamanca Place’s gently sloping pavement past the various traders offering leather work, clothing, souvenirs, books and packaged foods. For memory there was only one stall offering takeaway food in this area.

Once you pass the first 100 or so stalls, Salamanca Place levels out and from here you will find more than thirty stalls offering take away foods. Also, in this area you will find fresh fruit and vegetables, distillers, winemakers, confectionary, ice cream and toys. There are also lots of other non-food stores distributed throughout this area.

Naturally it was the food stalls that were of great interest with so many locally made products on display. The quality and variety of the hot food offered made you want to purchase something at every stall, but we had to pace ourselves.

It was in the take-away food section that we were reacquainted with the curried scallop pie.

The Curried Scallop Pie

One of the features that Tasmania is renowned for is fresh fish and seafood.  No point in Tasmania is more than 80 kilometres from the sea (as the crow flies), so fresh fish and seafood is generally plentiful; and July is the tail end of the scallop season.

The curried scallop pie (it’s also available as Mornay) shouldn’t be treated like an ordinary meat pie. I have only seen it sold as an individual serving. This pie would not be successful at the footy. Scallops are placed in the pastry raw and then the cold curry sauce is added, followed by the pastry lid. The baking process will cook the scallops and at the same time thin the curry sauce, so the sauce is a bit runny. You could make the sauce thicker, but this would be less traditional.

Each baker has their own preferred spice mix – their proprietary blend (or so I’m told). This would give a point of difference. Further differences can be achieved by adding other ingredients – onion, carrot, celery and potato. These ingredients would need to be finally chopped and used sparingly otherwise you run the risk using less scallops than is recommended; and that number varies, but between four and eight scallops per pie, depending on size, would do the job.

The sauce will be a derivation of another “Mother sauce” our fourth one – Veloute. In this case it will be made with basis of fish stock.

Finally, the pastry should be shortcrust pastry. It can be store bought but avoid puff pastry. The recipe provided is quick, easy and any leftover uncooked pastry can be frozen.

Shortcrust pastry

It is well known that making pastry dough by hand can give varied results with temperature being the main culprit. Basically the warmth of your hand softens the butter too quickly and this can be worse when the air temperature is warmer in summer. By-pass the problem by using a food processor. I used the attachment on my stick blender.

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Course: Main Course

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Ingredients for three individual pies:

• 220 g cups plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 115 g unsalted butter diced and chilled hard
• 2 ½ tbsp plus 1 tbsp iced water

Equipment

• The pie tins inside measurements was 10cm x 14cm with a depth of 2.5cm

Method

 

1. Assemble your ingredients
   
2. Place the flour and salt in your processor and give it a quick pulse to mix
   
3. Add the cubed butter and intermittently pulse the processor for about 30 seconds.
4. The mixture should look like a course breadcrumb
5. Add the 2 ½ tbsp of chilled water. Process again for up to 10 seconds
6. There should be some change, but it won’t look like a ball of dough yet.
7. With your fingers see if the mixture comes together. If not add a little more iced water and give it a quick pulse.
8. Turn the mixture out and quickly work into a ball
9. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and chill for one hour
   

Notes

The addition of caster sugar with the flour and salt will give you a sweet shortcrust pastry.
Don’t be tempted to substitute margarine instead of butter.

The Curried Scallop Pie

As already mentioned the curry sauce is a veloute. Basically it is prepared in a similar fashion as béchamel sauce. The roux is cooked a little longer, perhaps a minute and the milk is replaced by stock – in this case fish stock. The amount of roux will dictate the thickness of the sauce. A little extra texture comes with the added vegetables and the curry powder. I used fennel, which is a good accompaniment for seafood.

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Course: Main Course

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

Curry Sauce:

Ingredients for 750ml sauce:

• 65 g butter
• 80 g onion peeled, finely chopped.
• 80 g potato washed, peeled, finely chopped
• 80 g fennel washed, finely chopped.
• 20 g curry powder
• 55 g plain flour
• 500 ml fish stock
• 5 ml lemon juice
• 100 ml cream
• Salt
• ground white pepper

Assembling the pie:

• 10 g butter melted
• 100 g shortcrust pastry as per recipe
• 4 - 8 Tasmanian Scallops per individual pie The weight of mine were 150g
• 160 g curry sauce
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 10ml milk

Method

 

Curry Sauce - method:

1. Assemble ingredients
   
2. In your saucepan on a moderate heat melt the butter on your stove top
   
3. Sweat the onion and fennel for 2-3 minutes. Avoid colouring
   
4. Add curry powder and gently cook for a further one minute
   
5. Add the flour, combine well and cook for a further one minute
   
6. Take off the heat and add the fish stock and lemon juice. Mix well to break up the roux. Return to the heat and bring to the boil. Sir until you have a smooth sauce
   
7. Add potato. Simmer for 12 minutes
8. Add cream. Bring back to simmer for 1 minute
   
9. Check seasoning
10. Ready
11. Chill the sauce before using it in your pies

Assembling pie - method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180c
2. Lightly grease the pie tin with melted butter
3. Roll out the pastry to approx 2mm thick
   
4. Line your pie tins with the pastry. Avoid air bubbles under the pastry. Avoid stretching the pastry
   
5. Trim the pastry to the edge of your pie tin
6. Chill the pastry for a few minutes to firm the pastry up again
7. Gather scraps into a ball and roll out the pie top to suit the size of your pie
8. Fill the base with the scallops and enough cold sauce to give a domed effect after you lid the pie
   
9. Brush the edge of the pastry with the egg yolk mix
10. Cover the filled base with the pastry top
    
11. Seal the pie by crimping the base and top together
    
12. Brush the top of the pie with the egg yolk mixture
13. Cut a couple of steam holes in the top of the pastry
14. Place in the your oven and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and the sauce is bubbling through the steam holes
    

Notes

I used non stick metal pie dishes, offering a better heat transfer than ceramic or glass.
Place a baking sheet on the shelf below the cooking pies to catch any overflows