Fish Pie

As a rule I hate waste, and I'm generally very good at not throwing any food away.  This week's been a total failure though: I bought a whole cooked crab in France and ended up chucking it out because I'd misread the sell-by date (generally I ignore dates and trust my own nose, but I didn't want to take the risk with seafood), then I bought clams at the Farmers' Market on Sunday, intending to cook them tonight in a variation on this recipe.  The fishmonger was sure they'd survive until today (I've been working late shifts until now so not cooking dinner) but when I got home this afternoon they were not only dead but stinking.  The kale from the veg box that I'd been planning to use was dried out too.

Never mind: it hurts like hell to throw food away, but despite one bad week I'm still pretty good at not wasting food.  And I had a backup plan: fish pie.

Fish pie is one of those dishes that you make slightly differently each time depending on what's available.  The basic structure remains the same - white fish, smoked fish, shellfish and salmon, poached in milk with leeks, topped with mashed potato and browned in the oven - but you can muck about with the choice of fish, seasoning and herbs as much as you want.

Oh - and this is an ideal dish for a freezing cold day like today - you can turn the heating off, because the oven's going to be on for hours!

I've recently been converted to Heston's method of mashing potatoes, which is quite simply to cook jackets and mash the flesh rather than the traditional boiling.  The very best of Heston's ideas are things that you can do at home to radically improve the flavours of your own cooking, and this is one of those - mash from jackets is belting.  So, first up, get some potatoes cooking in the oven.  These bad boys took an hour and a half at 180C.

When you can push a knife through them with no effort, leave them on one side and get the fish ready.

My fish selection was dictated by a combination of necessity and market forces.  I'd taken a couple of gurnard fillets out of the freezer with the intention of making the clam dish, there was a smoked mackerel from Sussex Smokers in the fridge from Sunday's Farmers' Market, and there were prawns and salmon in the freezer as Sainsburys and Waitrose respectively have had them half-price lately so I'd bought them with the intention of doing fish pie some time soon.

Using a sharp knife and your fingers, get rid of all the skin and bone and cut the fish up into small pieces.  Leave the peeled prawns whole.

Put the fish into a large pan with oil and butter over a low heat.  Chop up a leek and throw that in as well.  This time around, I also chucked in a handful of frozen peas.

 

Once there's a bit of colour on everything, add milk - not enough to cover everything, just maybe half way up.

Season with salt and pepper, and add a generous sprinkling of dill.

Poach for 10 minutes or so, while you remove the skins from the jacket potatoes and mash the flesh along with a knob of butter and a twist of salt and pepper.

If you're lucky enough to own an oven proof pan like this one, you can just spread the mash over the top.  Otherwise, transfer the fish into an oven proof dish and spread the mash over that.

Then it wants a bit of time in the oven to make a nice golden-brown crust on the mash.  I found 40 minutes at 180C about right - you might get quicker results if you have a fan oven.

 

Add some cheese to the mash if you want, or a sprinkle of breadcrumbs over the top for a crunchier crust, or swap the prawns for mussels, or use kippers instead of smoked mackerel...  the possibilities are endless with this one.

Financial verdict
Sorry but I didn't keep receipts for everything so I'm not quite sure.

Fish freezes really well - there's very loss of quality once thawed - so the secret to fish pie is to buy the ingredients individually when they're on offer.  Supermarkets always have prawns, salmon, white fish OR smoked fish on offer - just get them at the right moment and chuck them in the freezer.  Then there's just potatoes and a leek left to buy, plus a bit of frozen veg if you want.  These quantities made two generous portions for us plus three more for the freezer which will get nuked and eaten at work later on.

The skinny
Bake potatoes in the oven (1 1/2 hours at 180C) then leave to cool

Peel and chop a leek

Remove skin and bones from a fillet of white fish, a fillet of salmon and a smoked fish

Cook the fish and leek over a low heat in oil and butter, along with a packet of prawns

Add enough milk to come half-way up the fish mixture and reduce for a few minutes

Add a handful of peas

Season with salt and pepper and add a generous amount of dill

Mash the flesh of the jacket potatoes

Spread the mash over the top of the fish mixture

Bake in the oven at 180C for 40 minutes, or until the mash has a golden-brown crust