When cooking for my kids I am usually looking for something quick and easy, as, like most working mums, my time is an absolute premium. I also like to cook something healthy or something the kids can help me with. Fish pie is a little more labour intensive than the recipes I normally write, however sometimes I think it is worth taking the extra time and having a nice traditional family favourite. My kids clean their plate when we have fish pie and usually ask for seconds. With at least two portions of vegetables and one of their weekly portions of fish it is a complete meal on a plate.
Ingredients
- 6 medium potatoes
- 2 tblsp mild olive oil
- 2-3 tblsp milk
- 4 medium fillets of white fish
- 1 ½ pints of milk
- 1 onion cut in half and studded with a few cloves
- 2 tblsp of mild olive oil
- 2 tblsp of flour
- ½ cup of frozen peas
- ½ cup of frozen corn
- ½ cup of grated carrot
- ½ cup grated zucchini
- ½ cup chopped mushroom
- ¼ cup of spinach (frozen or fresh)
- grated zest of one lemon
- 2 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried dill
Method
- peel your potatoes and chop into quarters, put in a large pan of boiling water and cook until they fall off your fork when you spike a piece, usually, 12- 15 minutes. Drain and mash in a large bowl with 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2-3 tbsp of milk.
- while your potatoes are boiling put the fish and the onion halves in a pan and cover with milk. Bring to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer until the fish is just cooked, usually 3-5 minutes depending on the size of your fish.
- while your potatoes are boiling and your fish is poaching take a baking dish (I use a round approx 10 inch diameter and 2 ½ inch high terracotta dish) and add all your vegetables, the lemon zest and the herbs.
- remove your fish from the milk and roughly flake it into the baking dish on top of the vegetables. Don't discard your poaching milk, but remove and discard the onion.
- in a small to medium saucepan heat the other 2 tbsps of olive oil and add your flour. Stir on the heat until the mix is leaving the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and gradually add your poaching milk a ladle at a time stirring the mixture until smooth in between additions. If your mix gets lumpy, just use a whisk. When your sauce is the consistency of double cream pour it over the fish and vegetables.
- top with mashed potatoes and bake in a moderate oven (200oC - 380oF) for 30-40 minutes until it is golden brown on top.
Tips
- use what ever fish you like, you want a fairly firm boneless fish, nothing too delicate. You can mix different types of fish, so it is a great thing to make when you have different types of fish left. Often in my house I may have some frozen fish fillets left as they come in a pack of 5 or 6 fillets and we only use 4, so my fish pie might have a cod fillet, a salmon fillet and some prawns for example.
- choose potatoes that are good for mashing. Try not to use instant mashed potatoes. I get my kids to mash the potatoes, which they love, then they don't mind if the potatoes are a bit lumpy as they know they made them. You can use an electric beater to mash your potatoes, which is a little quicker and gives a good fluffy result, but don't use a blender, it turns into a gluey mess!
- you may notice I use olive oil in both my mashed potatoes and my sauce. If you are used to using butter, by all means, use butter. I have got into the habit of replacing butter with olive oil wherever possible as it has so many health benefits. You don't really want to use an extra virgin olive oil as the flavour can be a bit strong.
- it doesn't matter what kind of milk you use, whatever your household preference is. I have used soya milk, oat milk and other dairy substitutes when I have people with dietary restrictions.
- the vegetables are flexible, I may add some chopped broccoli or leeks, some grated pumpkin or sweet potato, I wouldn't use tomatoes or bell peppers, and while I am sure onion and garlic are fine, I don't think it needs it.
- my fish pie invariably overflows a little in the oven, so I put my dish on a flat oven tray lined with foil to catch any mess.
