Luxury Fish Pie
Fish Pie is a traditional and unique British dish. It is known by a number of different names such as Fisherman’s Pie or Ocean Pie and is usually covered with a creamy or crusty potato topping. I am happy to be corrected if you know otherwise, but I haven’t yet come across anything similar in other cuisines.
If you like throwing the occasional dinner party for your closest family and friends, Fish Pie is probably not a dish you would consider as appropriate. It is a bit more of a comforting dish, something that you may have if you were perhaps feeling a bit under the weather. However, by simply altering the fundamental ingredient of the pie crust, suddenly changes the whole concept of the dish and it then becomes a definite dinner party contender.
Ingredients
1 Haddock Fillet
1 Salmon Fillet
50g Plain Flour
80g Butter
500ml Fish Stock
100ml Single Cream
2 Garlic Cloves
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Medium Onion
8 Sheets of Filo Pastry
Method
Start by a making a roux based white sauce. To do this place a pan on a medium heat and melt 50 grams of the butter. Finely chop the garlic and add it to the butter. When it has melted give the garlic about a minute to flavour the butter, then add the flour and whisk it all together. It will thicken quickly.
When all the flour has been incorporated into the butter, slowly start adding the fish stock and keep whisking. Any lumps will soon disappear and you will end up with a smooth sauce.
When all the fish stock has been added, season with salt and add some white pepper. White pepper will blend nicely into the roux. You can use black pepper, but it will have black flecks in it and not look as aesthetically appealing. At this point, turn down your hob to a low heat and let it cook for approx 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly until it thickens. Remove from the heat, stir in the single cream and leave it to one side for later.
Take a saute or frying pan, place on a medium heat and add the olive oil. Slice your onion and gently fry until it starts to soften, adding a grind of black pepper. When it has softened and taken on a golden colour, remove from the pan and place to one side with your white sauce.
When selecting your fish please make sure you use a firm fleshed fish, so it maintains its shape and structure during the cooking process. My fishmonger recommended haddock and salmon as a good basis for a fish pie. Skin and cut your choice of fish into large bite sized pieces.
If needed add a bit more olive oil to the pan you fried the onions in and turn your hob to a medium-high heat. Very quickly, for no more than a minute, fry the fish and season with a little more salt. Remove from the pan and carefully combine it with the white sauce and onions. Place this mixture into an oven-proof dish.
Melt the remaining 30 grams of butter. Place the first sheet of filo pastry on to the your filling mixture. Liberally brush with butter, then add another sheet of filo and repeat the process for each sheet.
Place the pie into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for 25 minutes or until the filo pastry is golden brown. Serve with green beans.
You can make this as luxurious as you want and could add other ingredients such as monkfish, hake, prawns, scallops, mussels or clams. All would add to the decadence of the pie filling and make your dinner guests even happier and more content. Watch out though, they may insist you start throwing more dinner parties!
This was adapted from Matt Preston’s Ultimate Fish Pie recipe.
