
A fish pie is the ultimate winter comfort food. I’ve experimented with a few different recipes over the year, some of which really overcomplicate things with mixed results. I think I have come up with the perfect one – it’s very simple to make, doesn’t require masses of ingredients, yet tastes rich and creamy at the same time (and has a bit of a kick to it!).
The choice of fish and seafood I’ve mentioned in the ingredients is a suggestion, feel free to substitute these with your preferred fish. You could include squid for example, or any other types of fish fillet.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
- 450ml fish stock (chicken or vegetable stock will also do)
- 300g fish fillets, cubed (I use a combination of salmon, smoked haddock and cod)
- 100g scallops
- 200g raw prawns, peeled
- 100ml white wine
- 150ml whole milk
- 100ml double cream
- 50g butter
- Dash of olive oil
- 2 leeks, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 50g plain flour
- handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 200g potatoes
- 80g cheddar cheese, grated
- salt and pepper
Method:
- Peel your potatoes and parboil them (roughly for 10 minutes and drain once complete). You don’t want them to cook through completely, they need to still be firm.
- Bring your stock to boil, and add your fish fillets for 1-2 minutes, until cooked through. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in your pie dish. Repeat with your scallops and prawns for 1 minute. Don’t overcook them, your fish will continue to cook whilst in the pie in the oven. Season your fish with salt and pepper.
- Add your wine, double cream and milk to the stock mixture and leave to simmer.
- Add the butter to a frying pan on a low heat then add your leeks. You can add a dash of olive oil to prevent the butter from burning. Add your garlic, some salt and pepper and leave to cook for 4-5 minutes. The leeks should be soft and buttery but not browned.
- Turn the heat to medium-high and cover the leeks with the flour. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Start slowly adding your stock/cream/milk/wine mixture to the leeks and stir continuously as you do. Once you’ve added the whole mixture, leave to simmer for 2-3 minutes and then add half of your parsley to the mixture.
- Pour your creamy leek sauce over your fish in the pie dish.
- Slice your potatoes and position on top of the fish mixture, then season with salt, pepper and the rest of the parsley.
- Cook on 180C for 30 minutes. Remove, scatter your cheese on top and cook for another 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden brown.