Rick Stein’s Fish Pie
Rick Stein's take on the a classic seafood dish. This creamy fish pie recipe brings together cod and smoked haddock with a fluffy potato and parsley topping.
From the book
My Kitchen Table: 100 Fish and Seafood Recipes
Rick Stein's easy, classic fish dishes
Learn to cook fish perfectly with simple instructions
Recipes for every level of skill
Introduction
Try making this with haddock and smoked haddock or, if you live in Australia, substitute flat-head for the unsmoked fish.
Ingredients
| 1 | small onion, thickly sliced |
| 2 | cloves |
| 1 | bay leaf |
| 600ml (1 pint) | milk |
| 300ml | (½ pint) double cream |
| 450g (1lb) | unskinned cod fillet |
| 225g (8oz) | undyed smoked cod or haddock fillet |
| 4 | eggs |
| 100g (4oz) | butter |
| 45g (1½oz) | plain flour |
| 5 tbsp | freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley |
| Freshly grated nutmeg | |
| Salt and freshly ground white pepper | |
| 1.25kg (2lb 12oz) | peeled floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward |
| 1 | egg yolk |
Essential kit
You will need a shallow 1.75 litre (3 pint) ovenproof dish.
Method
Stud a couple of the onion slices with the cloves. Put the onion slices in a large pan with the bay leaf, 450ml (¾ pint) of the milk, the cream, cod and smoked fish. Bring just to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes. Lift the fish out onto a plate and strain the cooking liquor into a jug.When the fish is cool enough to handle, break it into large flakes, discarding the skin and any bones. Sprinkle it over the base of a shallow 1.75 litre (3 pint) ovenproof dish.
Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then drain and leave to cool. Peel them, cut into chunky slices and arrange on top of the fish.
Melt half the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the reserved cooking liquor. Return it to the heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time.Leave it to simmer gently for 10 minutes to cook out the flour. Remove from the heat once more, stir in the parsley and season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Boil the potatoes for 15–20 minutes. Drain, mash and add the rest of the butter and the egg yolk. Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Beat in enough of the remaining milk to form a soft spreadable mash.
Spoon the potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 35–40 minutes, until piping hot and golden brown.
