From Kiki's Delivery Service · 1989 · Reconstructed
Herring and Pumpkin Pot Pie
Serve when
Serve it fresh from a wood oven, delivered through a rainstorm — and hope the recipient is kinder than the granddaughter.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:59:38 Madame bakes her signature herring and pumpkin pot pie in the old wood stove as a birthday gift for her granddaughter; Kiki helps bake it and flies it through pouring rain — to the film's most deflating 'I hate Grandma's pies.'
The pie is the film's small tragedy and its lesson: Madame's love baked into a pie the granddaughter shrugs at — witnessed by an exhausted, rain-soaked Kiki. It's Miyazaki on thankless work, and it made a fish-topped pie one of animation's most famous dishes.
Ingredients
Method
- Season the mashed pumpkin with cream, egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
- Layer the pumpkin, leeks, and herring fillets in a deep pie dish.
- Lid with puff pastry, crimp, and decorate — Madame's has a pastry fish on top; honor it.
- Glaze with egg, cut a small vent or two so steam can escape, and bake at 400°F for 35–40 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and deep gold and the filling bubbles at the vents.
- Deliver personally, in any weather. Manage expectations about grandchildren.