Fish Pie is a British style specialty made with plain and smoked haddock in a creamy sauce with veggies and a cheesy potato topping.
Fish Pie
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
It’s time for #FishFridayFoodies again, one of my favorite blogging groups. For this outing, our topic is “Seafood Pie”. I decided on a British style fish pie, since I hadn’t ever made one before, and since I came across some nice smoked haddock at my fishmonger’s counter.
This type of fish pie is generally a combination of smoked fish and regular fish with sometimes seafood such as shrimp or prawns. The fish is combined with a creamy sauce and some veggies and then topped with a layer of mashed potatoes and baked. As I understand it, the fisherman’s pie was a counterpart to the cottage pie and the shepherd’s pie, cottage pie containing beef, and the shepherd’s pie containing lamb. And of course the fisherman with seafood.
Although being British, it is not a difficult food concept for Americans to understand, despite the fact that we seldom, if ever, cook such a thing here. I mean, I think I ate a few frozen Banquet tuna pot pies when I was a kid, but nothing my Mom ever made from scratch (nor have I). Our pies are generally turkey, chicken, or beef.
But the flavor of the fish pie is very good and very amenable to the American palate, having a taste of a tuna casserole made with potatoes instead of noodles. And there is the smoky flavor there, which is a bit different, but it really works with the pie. In fact, I am thinking of working up a tuna casserole with some smoked haddock in it, since it would work quite swimmingly. I do hope this is one you will enjoy!
Tomorrow I am posting with the premier outing of #SaturdayFoodSwap with my recipe for Spicy Gai Lan and Tofu Soup (Gai Lan is something similar to broccoli). Sunday will be a retro hamburger gravy as part of a recipe request, and Monday will be jalapeno popper wontons. Join me each day! Until tomorrow-
~Sue
Fish Pie
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces fresh haddock fillet
- 3-1/4 cups whole milk, divided
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 ounces smoked haddock
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup light cream
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 1 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese
Method:
- If you can do some tasks concurrently, do so to save time.
- Bring 3 cups of the milk, thyme sprigs and bay leaf to a boil in a small skillet. Add fish fillets, then reduce heat and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Lift the fish out with a long spatula and cool enough to handle. Save the milk in the pan, but discard the thyme stems and bay leaf. We will be using that milk in a minute.
- Spray a casserole dish with nonstick (or butter/oil it) and scrape the skin off the smoked haddock with the back of a knife, then crumble the smoked haddock into bite sized pieces and place in the casserole. When the fresh haddock cools a bit, scrape the skin off with the back of a knife then chunk that up too and add to the dish.
- Peel the potatoes and dice; then boil in salted water about 12 minutes or until fork tender; drain. Add the butter to the hot pan, and when it melts, add the potatoes and cream and mash. Season with salt and pepper and set aside for now.
- Heat the 2 tbsp butter in a small saute pan and cook the carrot and onion until soft.
- Whisk together the last 1/4 cup cold milk with the cornstarch.
- Heat the milk we saved from poaching the fish with the thawed frozen peas and add the sauteed carrot and onion. Whisk in the milk/cornstarch slurry and cook over low heat, stirring, until mixture thickens.
- Pour the sauce over the fish pieces in the casserole and stir just a touch.
- Take the potatoes and place spoonfuls around the pan edges, working towards the center, then using a fork, whirl little spots in it and fill up the holes.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheddar over all.
- Place your casserole on a baking pan in case it decides to bubble over.
- Bake the pie for 35-40 minutes or until golden on top and bubbly.
From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com
~Sue
Fish Friday Foodies
“Seafood Pie”
Hosted by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
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Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517@gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.
I love tuna casserole so I am anxious to try this dish.
This does sound delicious, and I love smoked fish so much, I could eat it every day. My Irish husband would love this!
Looks good – love seeing variations on something I remember well from childhood!
Hand me a big ol’ pint of lager and a spoon and let me go. This looks wonderful!
Mr. Saucy would think he’d died and gone to heaven! I will give this a try. P~