Friday Night Fish Pie - Foodie Friday

My mother and the Catholic Church in concert tried to make me loathe fish but they failed miserably!  As a child, we always had fish on Fridays... usually cod and tolerated because of my mum's marvellous chips fried in home-made dripping.  However, worse than this was the invalid's food... a piece of fish poached/drowned in milk with any semblence of flavour removed.  This pie is the total antithesis of this,  it's tasty and filling, and should feed four hungry adults.


Below is a pic of my local wet fish shop, taken this this morning, all I can say is Mattacks for marvellous fish!

You will need:


1lb (500g) A fish mix (use your local fishmonger if you are lucky enough to have one and he will make up a mix for you), containing some of the following: cod, salmon, hake, monkfish and if you want a smoky flavour a small proportion of smoked haddock
4 oz (120 g) Cooked Prawns
A small onion
6 Closed Cup Mushrooms
1 Hard boiled egg
1/2 pt of Milk  
2oz (50g)Plain Flour
2oz (50g) Butter
Parsley ( l like to use curly as it has a stronger flavour)
A knob of butter or oil to 
4 good size Potatoes 
4 Spring onions


Cook your potatoes, I popped my egg in with the potatoes and whipped it out after 10 mins, remember to dunk it immediately into cold water so you do not get the nasty black ring around the yolk. Then mash them up, adding a slurp of milk and butter.  Chop up a couple of spring onions and add them to the potatoes and set aside.


Melt a knob of  butter in your frying pan and add the finely chopped onion, you do not want the onion to go brown but just to become translucent, then add your sliced mushrooms and cook these through.  Pop these into a dish on the side.


Now put your fish mix (which will be in bite sized chunks) into the pan so that it is just one layer and cover it with milk (don't worry we are not going down the invalid route), cover the pan and let it simmer really gently for 3 - 4 minutes until the fish is cooked through.


Whilst this is happening, make your roux by melting an ounce of butter in a saucepan and adding plain flour and a pinch of salt, mix the two together until it resembles ear wax and then cook it on the hob for a minute to make sure the flour is cooked, set it aside.


With a slotted spoon remove the fish mix from the milk... if you spot bones, now is the time to go after them and remove them and put the fish into your bowl with the onions and mushrooms.  Chop up your hard boiled egg and add it to the fish mix.  Mix gently and place into your pint sized, put your cooked prawns on top of the mix or you can use smaller dishes to create individual pies and freeze any extra.


Decant the liquid left in the pan into a jug, and add it slowly to the roux you have just made, to thicken it bring it up to the boil and add the chopped parsley, stir it in gently and then taste it, if you need to adjust the seasoning.

Pour the sauce over your fish mixture.  Then cover it with your mash... now some of you will be artistic and pipe out the potato but I am a demon with the dinner fork and have gone for the rustic look.


If you are going to eat this immediately you will need to put it into a pre-heated oven at 180', 350 F or Gas mark 4 for 12 - 15 mins or, if like me you have made it in the morning to be eaten for supper it will need to cook it for 30 mins at the same temperature.

And here is something to listen to whilst you are cooking your fish pie, the legendary Louis Jordan with "Saturday Night Fish Fry."