Marion's Tuna and Potato Pie

Tuna and potato are always a delicious combination. Here, we're adding in a few other simple ingredients to create a fabulously retro Tuna and Potato Pie. Add a bag of chips (crisps) and share this hot and tasty pie with your nearest and dearest.

I'm all about quick and easy family meals and sweet treats here at Cooking with Nana Ling. But the website was inspired, and continues to be guided, by bigger things. The love and dedication to family that can be found between the lines in handwritten recipes from previous generations. The stories and memories that are attached to recipes.

The recipe I'm sharing here isn't one of my own family recipes, but it is infused with family love and has a very big story attached to it. If you're ever going to ignore the "Jump to Recipe" button and read the whole post, I encourage you to do it now. Please take the time to read about this recipe and the (almost unbelievable) story that goes with it.

Jump to:

• The recipe
• Marion's story
• Ingredient notes
• How to make Tuna and Potato Pie
• Serving
• More pie recipes
• Tuna and Potato Pie Recipe

The recipe

This recipe comes from a well-worn handwritten collection - the best type of recipe book! These family recipe books are always special, but this one is particularly treasured.

(Just a reminder to keep scrolling to the recipe card for the recipe rather than trying to decipher it in the above image. I've also updated the recipe card to include modern measurements.)

This is the recipe book of missing Australian woman, Marion Barter. One of the recipes in this book has been shared with me (and you) by her daughter, Sally Leydon. Thanks, Sal! If you've listened to The Lady Vanishes podcast, a global "hit", these names will be immediately familiar. If not, you have a lot to catch up on...

Marion's story

Marion Barter has been missing since late 1997 and was 51 years old at that time. Her daughter Sally, pictured below with her mum, has never stopped searching for her mum – despite the many barriers and difficulties she's encountered over the years.

An inquest into Marion's disappearance found, in 2024, that on the balance of probabilities Marion died on or around 15 October 1997. The place, cause and manner of death could not be determined. But let's re-wind a little.

Marion vanishes

At the time of her disappearance, Marion had just resigned from her job as a teacher at The Southport School in Queensland (after being awarded the Queensland Teaching Excellence Award the previous year). She quickly sold her house at Southport (for a loss) and told friends and family she was heading overseas on an adventure.

Marion departed Australia on 22 June 1997. Sally initially heard from her mum while she was travelling in the UK, but started to become suspicious when her Mum missed calling for her brother's birthday and she discovered large sums of money were being withdrawn from her mum's bank account at a bank in Byron Bay.

Suspicious circumstances

What Sally has discovered and experienced since her mum disappeared is what made The Lady Vanishes such a compelling listen. It's a long story with many twists and turns, but to summarise some of the main points:

• Marion was in a relationship with a man prior to her disappearance. That man appeared at the inquest as Ric Blum, but has a history of regularly changing his name. Sally estimates that he has 53 aliases and has held at least 10 Australian passports in different names. During the inquest, his criminal history in Europe and "dishonest relationships with vulnerable women" were interrogated.
• Blum, a married man, told the inquest that he began an affair with Marion in February 1997 but ended the relationship in the weeks before she went overseas. He said she had left some "tea chests" containing her possessions with him but collected them before she left for her overseas holiday.
• Marion changed her legal name to Florabella Natalia Marion Remakel a month before leaving Australia, but didn't tell her family or friends about this change. One of Ric Blum's previous legal names was Fernand Nocolos Remakel.
• Marion's Medicare card was used in Grafton in September 1997.
• During the inquest, the Coroner suggested Blum was not telling the Court everything he knows.

Despite the inquest and recommendation that NSW Police continue to investigate Marion's death, Sally is still searching. What happened to her mum? Where is her mum? Who is responsible for her mum's likely tragic death?

Helping Sally

The podcast was a hit, but Sally is keen for her mum's story to reach more people. You can help Sally by:

• finding out more – listen to the podcast The Lady Vanishes or her new podcast The Missing Matter
• Follow the Facebook page dedicated to Sally's quest
• Get in touch with Sally if you knew Marion around this time and haven't yet come forward – even the tiniest bit of seemingly irrelevant information might in fact help.
• Other women who were linked to Blum have come forward with helpful information. There could be more women linked to this man that can provide a clue that helps Sally find the answers she needs. The women who have come forward all have different stories, and Blum often used different names, but there are common threads: starting a new life, travel to Bali, Japan, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Lille, or France, coins, stamps, antiques, selling houses, changing names, having liver function tests, and changing hair colour. If you know a woman who may have had dealings with Blum, get in touch with Sally.

You can also get the story out there by sharing this recipe with friends. It's a great recipe and you never know – the person you share it with (or the person they share it with) may provide the missing piece of the puzzle.

More than recipes

Many of Marion's treasured antiques and possessions also vanished with her. I find just thinking about this story and what Sally has been through heartbreaking. But it made me so happy to hear that she has her mum's handwritten recipe book. When I asked Sally what this means to her, she said:

"I am in my happy place when I am cooking in my kitchen. I find it very therapeutic. It makes me feel close to my mum when I'm making recipes from her cookbook – even if her writing is sometimes impossible to read and I have to constantly convert all the recipes from pounds and ounces. I feel like there is a little bit of her in every meal, dessert."

Thanks again for sharing your story and this fab recipe from your Mum's recipe book, Sal!

Ingredient notes

You'll need tuna (in springwater or brine rather than oil), potatoes, chives (fresh or dried), curry powder (I used Keen's) and a handful of other basic ingredients.

See the recipe card at the end of this post for ingredient quantities.

How to make Tuna and Potato Pie

All of the steps are in the recipe card at the end of this post, but I'm going to quickly step you through the process here.

First, grease a casserole dish, pre-heat your oven (to 180 degrees celsius / 360 degrees fahrenheit) and pop the potatoes (for the topping) on to boil. Next, make a white sauce with butter, flour and milk (see images 1, 2 and 3). If you've not made white sauce before, I've included step-by-step instructions in the recipe card. Then, simply add the rest of the ingredients for the tuna filling (see image 4) and mix it together.

Pour the tuna filling mixture into the casserole dish (see image 5).

Mash up the potato, add ⅔ of the chives and the remaining potato topping ingredients. Use the potato masher to combine all of the ingredients (see image 6). Spoon the potato topping over the top of the tuna filling (see image 7). Use the back of a metal spoon or a fork to even out potato layer (see image 8).

Place the pie into the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes (or until the potato starts to turn a golden brown colour in parts).

Serving

Garnish with remaining chives and serve warm with potato chips/crisps. You use the chips to scoop out bite-sized portions of pie – fun!

More pie recipes

Looking for more pie? Try these:

Made this recipe and love it? Please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. (And if you've read Marion's story above and shared this recipe, let us know where in the world you've shared it from in the comments. Your help in spreading the word about Marion's disappearance is so much appreciated - Libby x)

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