This is a regular feature in my house. I love fish, I love cheese and I love potato so to have them all together… Well… My sister Jan does a lovely and fancy version, poaching the fish in milk first, and adding boiled eggs and other such witchcraft. My version is for simpletons like me. It has creamy mash, with potato skin on for texture (and ease). It uses sweet potato which gives the mash a flavour twist. Use whatever fish you like, and dial the cheese up or down according to taste.
Serve with something green if you wish, and I recommend that you do as this pie is RICH. I served it with green beans, courgette and leek, sauteed in olive oil, lots of lemon juice, garlic, and served with a sprinkling of parmesan. Yum.
What to use – serves 3-4
- 150g king prawns
- 100g queen scallops
- 100g salmon
- 100g smoked haddock
- 100g cod
- 1 large sweet potato
- 400g white potatoes
- 50g mature cheddar
- 400ml milk
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 80g creme fraiche
- 40g butter
- Sea salt and pepper
How to use it
First, make the mash for the topping. As this is an easy fish pie, there’s no messing around with peeling (though I did peel the sweet potato). Wash your spuds and cut them into 2-3 pieces, leaving the skin on.
Bring them to the boil in salted water and boil until soft. Drain, put back into the pan. Season generously – nice big pinch of sea salt and grind of black pepper. Add the creme fraiche and mash away. Set aside.
Second, make your cheese sauce. First make a roux. Put the butter into the pan, melt, add the flour, stir. Cook for a minute or so. Add half the milk, turn the heat up and stir. Once the sauce has thickened, add the other half of the milk and repeat.
Grate your cheese and add it to the roux. Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat off.
Chop up your fish into bite size pieces and arrange evenly in your baking dish along with the prawns and scallops.
Pour the cheese sauce over the fish. Top with the mash, leaving little gaps for steam to escape.
Cook at 180C (fan) for 30 minutes until bubbling and crisp on top. Feel free to add another layer of cheese on top for an even cheesier version.
Mmm rating: mm mm mm mm mm mm
Calories: six million
Cost pp: £4.25
What to listen to: Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight and The Pips – inspired by the relationship between Lee Majors (Six Million Dollar Man) and Farah Fawcett (Majors)
What to watch: The Six Million Dollar Man – I have vague memory of regularly (quite rightly) missing Brownies in the 1970s to watch this
eatburpsleep 