Cookbook:Fish Pie

Fish Pie
Category	Seafood recipes
Difficulty

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There are so many ways of doing fish pie that no one person can provide the definitive recipe. Please do feel free to add suggestions on how you do this perennial favourite!

Ingredients

• 200 g of fresh salmon
• 200 g of smoked haddock
• 100 g prawns
• 100 g mussels
• 5 scallops
• 2 lb (1 kg) potatoes
• Nutmeg
• Butter
• ¼ pt (150 ml) fresh single cream
• 2 bay leaves
• milk
• 50 g Ementhaler or Appenzeller cheese, grated

Procedure

1. Take all the fish and place it all in a saucepan with sufficient milk so that the fish is submerged. Add the bay leaf and a pinch of salt.
2. Poach on a low heat for about 5 minutes
3. Remove the fish from the pan, skin the haddock and the salmon, and flake, using a fork, into pieces. Return to the milk and set aside.
4. Peel and boil the potatoes until they are soft enough to mash. This will take at least 20 minutes of boiling, otherwise the mash may remain lumpy. The potato needs to be mashed very well indeed, and an electric whisk is recommended after the initial crushing of the potatoes.
5. Pour some of the milk into the potatoes so that the taste of fish infuses into it. The mash should not get too runny, but add some of the cream and grate some nutmeg into the potato as well.
6. Put the cooked fish into the bottom of an oven-proof dish, with any remaining milk sauce. The dish should not be too large as it is nice to build a couple of layers of the fish, rather than lay it out in one layer. Once you have done this, pat the fish gently down a little so that it is slightly compacted.
7. Spread the mashed potato over the top of the fish to a height of about 1½ inches (38 mm) making sure it is flat, and not piled up in the middle. Using a fork, ridge the top of the potato as this will make it colour up nicely in the oven.
8. At this stage, if you want, add the grated cheese over the potato, and if you are feeling artistic, decorate the top of the pie with some large peeled prawns around the edge of the fish, and maybe a decoration in the middle.
9. Place the pie in the oven at 220°C and leave for about 30 minutes or so, until the top of the potato/grated cheese is nicely coloured and the potato is bubbling nicely.
10. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Notes, tips, and variations

• A good accompaniment to fish pie is samphire if you can get it (boil it for 10 minutes, add butter and maybe a little grated Parmesan cheese) or a lovely, fresh green salad.