Luxuriously comforting fish pie

Posted by petra08 on November 30, 2019 · 9 Comments 

The past week has been challenging to say the least. Work is busy, I picked up a great pre Christmas order, I had plans to catch up with friends and go to my favorite London shops, we just finished a fun sushi pop up and all the December plans were to be made.

In the middle of all this I woke up one day and the right hand side of my face was paralyzed. Nothing else was wrong and I thought it might just go away but on the third day it seems to get worse and I ended up at A&E.

It turned out I have a virus that paralyzes, usually, the right hand side of the face. I came away with steroids and it is slowly getting better. My eye wouldn’t blink for a few days so I was sporting the pirate look.

My smile isn’t right as the right hand side still doesn’t quite move but my eye is better so I am patch free and it seems all I can do now is to be patient.

As my eye was getting better I felt an urge for comfort food and fish pie was high on my wish list. I wanted to make it special so I went to Jenkins & Son Fishmongers on the High street to see what they had.

The other day I was talking to a friend about the rising cost of food and shopping local. I am a firm believer that if you shop local not only do you support the local community and a thriving high street, but you can also get food at the same price or close to as the supermarkets if you buy local produce and/or what is in season and plentiful at the moment.

I love scallops and prawns, that might sound expensive but a little goes a long way so here is my budget luxury fish pie.

Budget luxury fish pie

preparation time 15 minutes

cooking time 40 minutes + time to make potato mash

oven 175C or 350F

serves 5

Ingredients

Seafood

• 3 scallops, with roe
• 4 king prawns
• 150 gr or 5.3 oz salmon
• 100 gr or 3.5 oz hot smoked salmon
• 100 gr or 3.5 oz crab stick/surimi
• Spinach & egg bechamel

• 4 dl or 2 cups of milk
• 2 dl or 1 cup chicken stock (or use fish or vegetable stock if you prefer
• 5 tbsp flour
• 20 gr 0.7 oz butter
• 2 dl or 1 cup of grated cheese, I used Jarlsberg
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• salt & pepper to taste
• 200 gr or 7 oz fresh spinach
• 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
• sumac
• 1 lime

Mash potato

• 1.2 kg or 42 oz potatoes, peeled and quatered
• 20 gr or 0.7 oz butter
• 1/2 dl or 1/4 cup cream
• about 1 dl or 1/2 cup milk, enough to give the mash the right consistency
• salt & pepper to taste
• sesame seeds

Start by preparing the seafood. Peel and chop the prawns in to chunks. Clean and slice the scallops. Remove any skin off the salmon and cut it in to cubes. Chop the crab sticks and flake the hot smoked salmon.

Cover the fish and place in the fridge until you are ready to put the fish pie together.

Make the mash. Peel and boil the potatoes. Mix the potatoes with butter, cream and milk, mash and add more milk if needed and taste with salt and pepper.

Make the bechamel. Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour. Let it cook out for a couple of minutes before adding the milk and stock. Keep whisking to get rid of any lumps. Taste with salt and pepper. Take the bechamel off the heat and add the grated cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted and add spinach leaves and hard boiled egg. Make sure the spinach is covered by the sauce and leave with a lid on for a few minutes, just enough for the spinach to wilt.

If you want a lighter sauce omit the butter and mix 5 tbsp corn starch with a little cold water to thicken the sauce instead.

Butter a dish and place the mash and seafood in it. Zest the lime and set the zest aside. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice over the seafood.

Pour the bechamel over the seafood. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the potatoes and sumac over the bechamel before placing the fish pie in the oven.

Bake the fish pie for 40 minutes until it is hot and bubbly and the sea food will be cooked through.

Sprinkle over the lime zest, let the fish pie cool for a few minutes and serve.

I served the fish pie with steamed french beans. The seafood mix was perfect, smooth scallops, succulent prawns, great quality crab stick, fresh salmon and just the right amount of hot smoked salmon.

The cheese, egg, spinach, seafood and mash is a dish that really hit the comfort food spot, it made my week better and my stomach very happy.

How was your week?

I am bringing this fish pie to the always lovely Angie’s Fiesta Friday, the best foodie party around. Laurena, Life Diet Health is her co host. Come and have a look get inspired and be prepared to get hungry.

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Filed under Allotment/Veg, Cheese, Egg, Fish & Seafood, Jarlsberg, Main course, Potatoes, Prawns, Recipe, Salmon, Scallops, Spinach, Starch · Tagged with Comfort food, fiesta friday, Fish pie, Luxurious fish pie, Posh fish pie, seafood bake