Almost Traditional Fish Pie

I must confess that I’ve never really thought about adding fish to pie but I was looking up a Cornish dish with a very intriguing name and stumbled upon it. If you don’t mind your food looking back at you, google “stargazy pie.” This fisherman’s pie by @alifeworthbaking is much more my style.

RECIPE:

Serves 4 – 6
Ingredients:
Fillings
700g skinless, filleted sustainable white fish of choice (reserved the bones for fish stock) cut into chunks
100g scallop meat
200g peeled & deveined shrimps
A cup of fresh peas & diced carrots (optional)
1 celery stalk, finely diced
½ fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 leek, white part only sliced
60 ml rice bran oil or olive oil (Not evoo)
Stock
600ml water (you may also use homemade broth, store-bought fish/ seafood bouillon or vegetable stock)
50 ml Verjuice
3 spring onions, white part only sliced
A clove of garlic, crushed 1 bay leaf
A few celery leaves
1 tsp white peppercorns
1 tsp of ground fennel
White Sauce
50g butter
30g plain flour
A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup whole milk
240 ml cooking cream
15g Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
15g chopped fennel tips or dill
Topping
800 kg floury potatoes
A clove of garlic, crushed 120 ml milk
2 egg yolks*
A handful of panko bread crumbs (optional)
Step-by-step
In a deep pot, add oil, sautéed the carrots (if using), celery, leek and fennel until soft. Seasoned the fish chunks, scallops and shrimps with salt & pepper. Add into the pot and cook until the flesh just about to change in colour. Remove contents from the pot into a separate bowl to cool. With the same pot, add a splash of oil, spring onions, garlic, bay leaf, celery leaves, white peppercorns, ground fennel. Cook until fragrant then add verjuice and reduced. After which, add fish bones (if using), water and continuing cooking until the stock boils then strained.
In a saucepan over medium heat, add butter. Once butter sizzles, stir in flour with a wooden spoon to make a roux then add nutmeg. Gradually whisk in the fish stock until smooth. Whisk in milk and continue whisking for 5 minutes until the mixture slightly thickens. Take the pan off the heat, stir in cooking cream, Dijon mustard, fennel tips or dill. Season well with salt and pepper.
Now, take the filling prepared earlier and fold into the sauce. Pour all this fishy goodness into a large, well-greased ceramic baking dish.
Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two until ready to cook.
Next, clean, washed and peeled the potatoes cut into chunks and steamed with garlic until soft. Then mash or pass through a sieve or potato ricer. In another deep pot, bring the milk to the boil season well and add the mashed potatoes. With a handheld food processor or whisk add the egg yolks* and mix to combine. *egg yolks is the secret to a creamy yet fluffy golden brown mash topping.
Finally, when you are ready to serve the fish pie, fork over the mashed potatoes on top of the filled baking dish (I make mine fancy by scooping the mashed potatoes into a piping bag with a saint-honore tip to make the fish scale design) Sprinkle panko bread crumbs and place in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes, depending on your oven, and let it rest (it will continue cooking).
Enjoy!