Stargazey Pie originates from Mousehole (pronounced Mowzel) is a fishing village on the South coast of our magnificent region.  Just along from Penzance sits this beautiful town famous for its Christmas lights, Stargazy Pie and so much more!

People from miles around come to see the wonderful Christmas lights that Mousehole proudly presents from mid-December to early January, but it’s not just Christmas that’s celebrated.  One December in the 16th century after a very long and hard winter, a local fisherman (Tom Bawcock) decided to help his starving village by braving the stormy weather and taking his fishing boat out to sea.  Despite the horrible conditions he managed to bring back a catch big enough to feed the entire village.  His catch included seven different types of fish, which were baked in to a Stargazy Pie. It’s given its name due to the fish heads poking out of the pastry, gazing at the stars, proving to the villagers that there was indeed fish inside. 

This has led to Tom Bawcocks Eve festival, which is held on the 23rd December in the town.  It sees the villagers parading a large Stargazy Pie during the evening, along with a procession of lanterns, before the pie is eaten! 

Total Time:    1 hr 5 min
Prep:        30 min
Cook:        35 min
Serves:        8 

The pie should be made with pilchards but you can use herrings.  The heads (which are inedible) are stuck out through the pastry topping so that all of the rich oil runs down back in to the pie to add to the flavor.

Ingredients
Pastry
8 pilchards or herrings
1 onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup each chopped parsley, fennel and thyme leaves
2 tablespoons milk
1 pinch saffron

Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line a pie dish with thinly rolled pastry. Remove fins  and scales from fish then slit and gut them.  Fill the cavities with chopped onion and the herbs.  Arrange the fish in the dish with the heads to the rim, then cover with the pastry, making a slot for each of the fish heads  to then pull them through.  Dissolve the saffron in the milk. Brush the pie dough with the saffron milk, and bake for about 35 minutes.