Fish pie

There are a gazillion number of fish pie recipes. This just happens to be the one I prefer.
I am lucky to have a fishmonger that makes a good fish pie mix. If you do not, it is easy to make. Just mix white fish (cod, whiting, etc), salmon and smoked haddock in similar proportions.

Serves: 5 persons.

Ingredients:
  • 500g fish pie mix
  • 10 raw shell-on king prawns
  • 100g anchovies
  • 4 tbsp capers
  • For the white sauce:
    • 50g unsalted butter
    • 50g plain flour (change to 40g cornflour for gluten-free)
    • 250ml water of cooking the fish
    • 200ml milk
    • 1 tbsp lemon juice
    • nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste
  • For the mash potatoes:
    • 800g potatoes
    • 40g unsalted butter
    • 120ml milk
    • nutmeg and salt to taste
Method:
  1. Cook the fish and king prawns in salted water. Although it will make you work harder, it is important to cook the prawns with the shell as it will give the water more flavour and a pink colour which will make the fish pie look better.

  2. Reserve 250ml of the water, sieving it. 
  3. Shell the prawns.
  4. Add the fish, prawns, anchovies and cappers to an ovenproof dish.
  5. Make the white sauce: butter, then flour, then water and milk. Keep whisking the white sauce until it is thick and then add the lemon juice, nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Combine the white sauce with the fish mixture in the ovenproof dish.
  7. Make the mash potatoes: cook the potatoes in water; drain and mash when cooked; add butter and milk and stir over a low heat until the butter is melted and the mash is soft; add salt and nutmeg to taste.
  8. Pipe the mash potatoes on top of the fish mixture, starting on the outside. When all the fish mixture is covered in rows of pipping, continue pipping the remaining mash in the gaps until all has been used. Pipping will make it look better but, lacking time and/or patience, spreading the mash over the mixture and criss-crossing it with a fork will work as well.


  9. Bake it at 180°C for 30 min or until the top of the pipping is golden.

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