Fish Pie with Mashed Potato Topping
Fish Pie with Mashed Potato Topping
Mamta Gupta
Fish pie is a very British dish and almost every family has their own favourite recipe. Though made from white fish traditionally, I use any fish I have/like. Here I have used a combination of smoked haddock, prawns and a few scallops, because on the day I decided to take pictures of it as I made it, this is what I had in the freezer. You can use a single fish too, but try to have a smoked fish, which gives much better flavour. You can add fresh prawns and scallops too, but frozen are fine for this dish. Amount of each seafood can vary; I have used just over 1 kilogram in total. You can add mussels, but I don’t, because I am not too fond of them. You can add diced carrots or corn kernels or other vegetables if you like.
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the fish
1 large onion, peeled and thickly sliced
2 fresh chillies, thinly sliced (optional)
75 gm. butter
700 gm. smoked haddock*, skinned and cut into cubes
240 gm. pack of cooked and peeled prawns*
200 gm. scallops*
350 ml. full cream milk
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp. plain flour
1 tbsp. flat leaf parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp. grated parmesan cheese
*You can use a good quality ready mix of seafood instead of these, either frozen or from fish mongers.
For potato mash
1 kg potatoes
25 gm. or a knob of butter
Salt and pepper to taste
A little chopped parsley, saved from above
Instructions
Boil potatoes in their skin using any method of choice. I steam them in a microwave oven on full (800) for 10 +5-6 minutes, until soft to touch. Allow to cool. Peel.
Heat the milk with bay leaves. Add the fish and scallops (prawns only if they are uncooked), and poach for about 5-6 minutes.
Lift fish/scallops out and keep aside. Discard bay leaf and keep the milk aside.
Melt butter in a pan and fry onions until soft and translucent. Lift out and keep aside.
In the same butter, sieve in the flour (it stops lumps from forming) and for a couple of minutes.
Add milk slowly, stirring all the time and cook to make a thick custard like sauce. Season it with salt and pepper. Turn heat off.
Add onions and 2/3rd of the parsley, stir in.
Making mashed potatoes
Peel potatoes and mash them. I do it using a potato ricer, you get a very even and smooth mash.
Add softened butter (soften in microwave on full for 30-40 seconds), remaining parsley, a little salt and pepper. Mix it well.
Finishing off the pie
Spread out fish, scallops and prawns in a pie dish and pour over the sauce evenly.
Spread potato mash on top of the fish, spooning it out and spreading it gently and evenly. Press it in a little using a fork.
Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top. You can keep it in fridge until you are ready to serve.
Heat oven to 355°F/180°C and place the pie in the centre. Cook for 20-30 minutes until the sauce it bubbling through the side of the potatoes, which turn a little brown.
Serve with chilli sauce and a salad.
