The Avoca cafe fish pie is one of my favourite dinners but I fancied trying some different fish pie recipes and I’d bought a mix of fish to try. Originally I was going to buy a pack of the mixed fish bits but I realised they worked out more expensive than buying packs of fish fillets! I also wanted to freeze some portions of fish pie for Jon’s aunt so whilst I love eggs in my fish pie and we have plenty of eggs at the moment they wouldn’t freeze so well.
I was tempted just to make my own version but I have all these recipe books to use! A browse revealed a cheesy fish pie from Jamie Oliver that I must try next but I wanted a recipe using a mix of fish and Rachel Allen’s Fish Pie from her Home Cooking book fitted the bill.
I guess unsurprisingly for an Irish cook this contains serious quantities of mashed potato. I’ve mentioned before I have a bit of a potato (especially mashed potato) phobia but my boys love it. I use a potato ricer as part of my phobia is the horror of encountering lumps in mashed potatoes. The reason there doesn’t seem to be much potato in the above picture on the plate is a lot of it dissolves into the creamy sauce. The rest of the family loved this Fish Pie and I liked it (without any extra potato), the conclusion from the others is they like it just as much as the Avoca Fish Pie but in a different way. This is definitely a comforting cold weather dish and smelt lovely as it was cooking.
Interesting blog entry on the Guardian food blog on how to cook the perfect fish pie http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/jan/27/how-cook-perfect-fish-pie.
I do plan to try the Jamie Oliver fish pie soon, my boys were initially keen as they love fish pie but less enthused when I mentioned his recipe contained spinach…
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 800 g skinless fillets of fish such as salmon, cod, whiting, hake or haddock
- 150 ml white wine
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 125 g butter, diced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 150 g mushrooms, sliced
- 225 ml double cream
- 1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard
- 4 tbsp finely chopped mixed herbs
- 1 kg mashed potatoes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.
- Place the onion in the bottom of a large saucepan and lay the fish on top in an even layer. Pour in the wine add the lemon juice scatter with 100g of the butter and season with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and simmer on a low heat for 15–20 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
- In the meantime, melt the remaining butter in a small frying pan and sauté the mushrooms on a gentle heat for 5–6 minutes or until softened. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Once cooked and using a slotted spoon, carefully transfer the fish from the saucepan (leaving the onions and cooking liquid in the pan) to a 22cm square ovenproof dish. Add the cream to the onions and cooking liquid in the pan and continue to simmer, with the lid off, for 10–15 minutes or until the sauce is reduced and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the mustard, herbs and sautéed mushrooms and check the seasoning.
- Pour the sauce over the fish in the dish and spoon over the mashed potato, spreading with the back of a spoon or fork. Alternatively, pipe the mash over the fish with a piping bag and nozzle for a more professional-looking finish. The fish pie can be prepared to this stage, left to cool and then placed in the fridge overnight until ready to bake.
- Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until bubbling and golden on top. If cooking from chilled then bake for about 40 minutes instead. Serve immediately.
100 Cook Books 