Warm your cockles on a miserable day with my ultimate comfort dish. There is something quite special about a delicious fish pie and this recipe shows you just how to ramp it up a level without using any difficult techniques, of course please buy which ever fish suits your budget but to make this extra special I used beautiful fresh fillets of salmon and smoked haddock and threw in some large plump Argentinian red shrimp.. and lets not forget the massive prawn on top but that's just an extra treat, its what's inside that counts.
If you fancy something different why not top your fish pie with chips instead of mash, although not as crispy as normal the chips soak in the flavour of the sauce and just taste incredible!
Prep time 10mins
Cooking time 1hr (this includes time for boiling the potatoes for mash)
60g butter (plus a little extra for mash)
1 onion, diced
2tsp finely chopped tarragon
200ml white wine
2 heaped tbsp of plain butter
250ml warm milk (+ and extra 50ml for the mash)
200ml fish or veg stock
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped
200g skinless cod, cut into chunks
200g skinless smoked haddock, cut into chunks
150g raw peeled Argentinian red shrimp, or any large raw peeled prawns
600g Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and chopped
Heat the 60g of butter on a medium heat and gently sauté the onion with the tarragon until it nice and soft, about 5 mins.
Then add the white wine and allow the alcohol to cook our, so turn the heat up and cook for 2mins.
Turn the heat back down to medium and add the flour using a whisk stir in to the butter, allow the flour to cook out, this will take about 3 mins, don't let it burn so keep stirring from time to time.
Now start adding the milk a bit at a time whisking after each addition, it will seem to be to thick until the last edition, but don't panic it will end up becoming a delicious white sauce.
Add the fish stock and allow to reduce to until the consistency of double cream.
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, start with a 1/4tsp of each have a little taste and add some more depending on your personal taste.
Now add all the fish, prawns and chopped parsley and transfer to an oven proof dish, set aside. This will allow the mixture to cool before you put the mash on this way the mash won't disappear.
Preheat the oven to 180ºc fan
Now make your mash by putting the potatoes into a saucepan of cold salted water, bring to the boil and let them cook until tender.
Drain the potatoes and leave them uncovered for a few mins to let the steam be released. Add the extra butter and milk and mash together until smooth, have a taste and add some salt if required.
Spoon on top of the fish mixture and spread out, use a fork to rough up the mash so you get lots of crispy bits.
At this point you can brush the mash with a little extra melted butter if you want, this will make it extra crispy and yummy.
Pop it in the oven for 35mins until bubbling at the edges and crispy on top.
Serve with some crunchy green beans (and a massive grilled prawn) enjoy!!
