Fish Pie

Firm favourite with Ishbel, this one, and have to say one of my favs too.  Popped out to get some fresh fish to make it and was tempted to buy a packet of creamy sauce mix, but then thought what the hell it is so easy to make for yourself.

So what do we need:  Again this is all depending on you appetite and how many you are feeding, but this is just for Ishbel and I tonight, so this is for two.

Fish filling 

1 decent sized small to medium fillet Smoked haddock

2 decent sized small to medium salmon fillets 

1 decent sized small to medium cod fillet

handful of prawns, squid and mussels

3/4 pint of milk

1 ozs (25grams) of plain flour 

2 ozs (50 grams) of  butter (unsalted)

1 and 1/2 tablespoons of chopped Parsley

Cheddar cheese for grating 

Parmesan cheese for grating 

1 tablespoon of lemon juice 

Mashed Potatoes for the topping (to be mashed)  Dependent on the size of the dish you are using you will need to decide how much mashed potato you need to cover the top of your pie.  If you have to many just freeze them for reuse another day.

Preparation

Pre heat the oven to 200 C  or 180 C if using a fan oven.

Cut the fish into chunks and place in an oven proof dish.  Add salt  and pepper dot with 1 oz of the butter. 

Add 1/4 pint of milk to the dish and place on the pre heated oven for 15 to 20 mins 

Pour over a 1/4 pint of the milk and place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes to poach the fish in the milk and butter. 

Not having made this for a wee while \i remembered at this point that I normally don't chop up the fish, until after I poach it, but hey, do it either way, but you will need the poaching liquor to add to your sauce in a while and it is easier to take the fish out of the poaching pan if fillets still whole!

Remove poached fish from the oven and liquor

and place in a well buttered dish for the pie.

Add the prawns  and lemon juice etc and set aside











Sauce

Take the remainder of the butter and place in a pan and gently melt down.  Add the flour and mix well.  Start adding the remaining milk in small dashes, stirring continuously.  As you stir the sauce will begin to thicken.













Continue to add the reaming milk and the milk from the poached fish until you have a nice smooth consistency, pour over fish, prawns etc

Sprinkle with Parsley....

While all of that has been going on potatoes have been peeled and put on to boil.  Once cooked, drain and mash and spread over fish dish.



Sprinkle with some grated cheese and place in oven on the high shelf at the same temperature, for about 20 - 25 mins and serve with  veg of your choice.

Enjoy 

Preparation time:

Poaching 20 - 25 mins

sauce prep 10 mins

Potatoes  cooking time 15 - 20 mins cooking while fish poaching

Pie cooking time 25 - 30 mins  (Tip: place a tray or some foil under the shelf as the sauce can sometimes spill out over the sides of the dish, saves on the cleaning of the oven)

Overall time 45 mins to 1 hr