Jamie Oliver’s Fish Pie
When you want to make something like Fish Pie, there’s really only one person you go to, to find a recipe and that person is Jamie Oliver. I consult Jamie’s books quite often as I love his laid-back approach to food and the fact that he likes chillies, garlic and lemon as much as I do. I also love that he’s a big promoter of British cuisine and as it’s a cuisine that goes a bit unnoticed, I thought I’d give something proper British a try.
When I received his new book, Save with Jamie, I was delighted. I love all his money-saving tricks and tips and the fact that he makes expensive ingredients stretch over a few meals. This fish pie is one of those meals. Jamie advocates using frozen fish because as he says, why use beautiful fresh fish when you’re going to be using it in something like a pie? I differed from Jamie’s recipe slightly and used frozen hake and frozen haddock as I found the frozen salmon a little expensive. I also used prawns as I think they are necessary to add some texture. Jamie uses frozen spinach in his pie but I omitted this. I really loved that Jamie mixed pea puree with the mash for the topping. Not only did it add sweetness to the pie but it also tinted the mashed potatoes a beautiful minty green which looked so beautiful with the coral of the haddock and the prawns. For Jamie’s original recipe, visit his website.
Ingredients
for the mashed potato topping
- 1 kg potatoes peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 400 g frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons butter
- zest of 1 lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
for the fish pie filling
- 500 ml 2 cups milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 200 g frozen hake fillets
- 200 g frozen smoked haddock fillets
- 200 g frozen shelled prawns
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 heaped teaspoon English mustard
- 40 g 1/2 cup mature cheddar, grated
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 2 carrots finely chopped
Instructions
- Place the potatoes in a large pot of boiling water or in a steamer and cook until soft.
- Pour boiling water over the peas to de-frost them then blend in a food processor.
- Mash the potatoes then mix in peas, butter and lemon zest. Season to taste.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°c.
- To make the fish pie, poach the fish in the milk with the bay leaf. When the fish is cooked, remove the fish and flake into large chunks. Reserve the milk.
- In a large, oven-proof frying pan fry the onion and carrot in a splash of olive oil until soft and fragrant. Add the garlic and fry for another 30 seconds.
- Add the flour and stir then add the milk the fish was poached to create a creamy sauce.
- Add the English mustard and fish and stir well then add the cheese and lemon juice and stir.
- Season to taste.
- Top the fish filling with the mashed potato and create indents with a spoon which will become nice and crispy in the oven.
- Place the pie in the oven and allow to bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and crispy.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes then serve.
