If the seas haven’t frozen over, or if you’ve got some fish in the freezer, fish pie has to be one of the greatest comfort foods ever. For me, it’s got to be topped with creamy mashed potato. I also put in little bits of broccoli to add some flavour and texture. And this recipe meets our current CheapEats challenge: to use only ingredients you have.
Most fishmongers will give you some fish ends, or you can sometimes pick up bags of mixed fish ends in the supermarkets; I think Jean picked some up in Lidl or Aldi. I usually use one piece of smoked fish, a fillet of salmon, and some whiting, which is surely the cheapest white fish and perfectly good for a pie.
Overall, this is a really cheap recipe: the fish used is pretty cheap, especially if you’ve started buying those frozen (often wild) salmon fillets in the supermarkets. Add in the potatoes and a pint of milk and you should be able to produce this easy meal for between €8-10. Don’t be put off by the length of the instructions: you’ll have this in the oven within half an hour.
Dill and chives are the ideal herb but some thyme, parsley, sage, and rosemary could work too. I’ve outlined the exact measurements for thickening the sauce but I usually make a roux without thinking: once it’s thick and buttery and dark golden brown you can keep it one side and stir it in to the milk as required.
Incidentally, one of the nicest fish pies I ever tasted was at the Cheese Pantry, which used thin slices of raw onion to give a nice bite to this typically creamy dish.
Fish and Broccoli Pie
Serves four
Ingredients
- About 1 1/2 lbs of fish, diced
- 2 white onions, chopped (red will give the sauce a grey hue)
- 1 leek, washed and chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 pint milk
- 1 bayleaf
- 50g/ 2oz flour
- 110g/ 4oz butter
- Two handfuls of chopped chives and dill, or a mixture of other herbs: parsley and thyme, or parsley with a tiny amount of fresh, chopped rosemary
- A head of broccoli, broken into small florets
- Salt and black pepper
- Juice of half a lemon
For mash topping:
- 5-6 medium sized potatoes, peeled and chopped
- A big knob of butter
- About 20ml cream, or milk
- Freshly black pepper
- Freshly grated parmesan
Method
- Place the fish in with the milk, along with the bay leaf, pepper, and onions. Slowly bring to the boil, reduce the heat, simmer for 5 minutes.
- Renove the fish from the pan, strip away any skin, and break the fish into chunks. Keep the liquid, with the onions and bay leaf, to one side.
- As the fish cooks, fry the chopped leeks for about 5 minutes in some butter and the chopped garlic with a dash of salt.
- To make the roux, melt the butter in a pan (use the same pan for less washing up) and add the flour, stirring constantly. It should be golden brown and it shouldn’t be runny.
- Slowly stir in the reserved liquid (with the onions and bay leaf) and allow it to simmer until it has reached a thicker consistency. Stir constantly.
- Meanwhile blanch the broccoli into boiling water for a minute, then quickly run under cold water.
- Now place the fish, broccoli, leeks with garlic, and herbs in your ovenproof dish, and stir in sauce. Add the lemon juice. Leave to cool for a few minutes: this will help keep the potato layer from collapsing into the pie.
- Boil the potato chunks for about 10 minutes over a medium heat, or until they’re soft. A fork through the thickest piece should meet no resistance. Strain and add the milk/cream, butter, parmesan, and salt/pepper. Mash the potato and cover the fish mixture.
- Bake in the oven for half an hour, covered with foil at about 180°C/ Gas Mark 4. Remove the foil, sprinkle over some (optional) parmesan, and return to the oven, uncovered, for a further 5 minutes.
- Serve with a lemon wedge – and perhaps some plain boiled carrots?
I’m not a shellfish fan so I omit the mussels but you could add them – and prawns – if you wish. Got a better fish pie recipe? Share it, I promise not to get the hump!