Fish Pie

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For a colourful fish pie use a mix of salmon, smoked cod and white haddock with a few prawns thrown in for good measure. Of course it’s up to you - stick with just a white fish or use a mix of fish and seafood like squid, mussels, cockles, prawns and cockles. Most fish pie recipes use cooked fish, using this recipe ensures the fish isn’t over cooked or cooked twice and when you serve up a portion the fish remains in visible cooked chunks.

Preparation time: 20 - 30 minutes Quantity: Serves 6 - 8 Cooking time: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Ingredients

White Sauce -

50g/ 2 oz butter

50g / 2 oz plain white flour 1 pint milk (any) - warm -hot

Flavours - 1 large or 2 small onions -small diced

2 sticks celery - small diced

2 cloves garlic - crushed 1 teaspoon

English mustard

Optional extras - 1/2 tin sweetcorn or 6 - 8 oz cooked broccoli florets or 8 - 10 oz sliced cooked mushrooms or 1 leek, trimmed, washed, diced and cooked

Topping- 1 kilo / 2 lb. & 4 oz peeled, large diced potatoes or 600g potatoes and 400g swede/ parsnip/ sweet potato or celeriac

80 ml milk and 1 oz/ 30g butter -optional or 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt

Fish filler - 550g - 650g mixed large diced fish and a hand full of prawns in the mix - optional

Method

• In a large pan melt the butter
• Stir in the flour, cook on a low heat, stirring until the flour mix (roux) is smooth and comes away from the side of the pan
• Add a ladle full of milk in at a time, stirring on a higher heat until the milk is absorbed in the roux and the mix thickens
• Continue until all the milk has gone and the sauce is smooth and thickened
• Add the onion, celery, garlic and mustard
• Cook on a low heat for a few minutes to soften the vegetables
• Add the diced fish
• Stir all together, cooking for only a minute
• Add any optional extras - if the mix is too firm add a little more milk
• Pour in to an ovenproof dish
• Meanwhile boil in salted water the peeled and diced potatoes or potatoes and root vegetables
• Simmer till tender . Drain
• Replace back on a low heat
• Add the milk, butter optional or the yogurt
• Mash and season to taste - take of the heat
• Spoon or pipe on to the top of the fish mix
• Bake in a preheated oven gas 7 / 220*c / 450*f - on the middle shelf for 45 - 60 minutes, until hot in the middle
• Tips- If boiling potatoes and root vegetables together bare in mind that potatoes cook quicker so make the dices of root vegetables 1/3 smaller than the potatoe
• When covering a pie mix with potato spoon the mash in to the corners first, followed by the sides and than fill in the middle gently - this will stop the mix from oozing out of the potato or over the side
• Adding hot milk to potatoes for mashing increases smoothness, so I put the potatoes back on the heat and add the milk to warm through, giving the same effect.

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