Fish pie

  Before we get cracking, a big shout out to the South west massive who got in touch with a bit of inspiration following last night's rant. I'm told they went to the fridge for a rummage and came up with this blinder. It looks delicious but there's one thing that stands out, the sprouts.

  Either they have been lurking in the salad drawer since mid December and were just being used up or, and this I'm afraid is the more likely story, they like Brussels sprouts. So much in fact that they buy them at times other than the run up to Christmas and serve a huge portion of them with a side order of fish, which I find odd. There's no criticism here as they are a wonderfully healthy and tasty vegetable, if you like that sort of thing.

Sprouts, by Scoggis.

  Back to today and a quick word about fish pie. I made one for last night's supper and have a suggestion if you're going to make one too. My fish pies have evolved into a huge selection of flavours and textures in a white sauce, covered in a mash of some sort. Some of the textures are fish (including king prawns), some are vegetables. I want my fish in pieces but neither overcooked nor obliterated into tiny shards and I really don't like tough, overcooked prawns). How do I achieve this? Let me tell you.

  Instead of telling you what not to do (because I know you're busy and it will get boring very quickly), I'll just give you my technique. Start with sweating bite size pieces of veg such as onion, carrot, mushroom, courgette in plenty of oil, on a low heat with the lid on. When they've started to soften, sprinkle in some flour and stir it around to let the flour soak up all the liquid. Finally, add some liquid such as wine (a splash to start) then stock or milk.

  If you're experienced in such things you might notice you're basically making a béchamel that's full of vegetables. When that's done, take it off the heat and gently stir in your chunks of raw fish. The residual heat will generally be enough to mostly cook the fish but we're not finished.

​​​​​​​  Put the sauce with the fish and vegetables into an oven proof dish and cover with the mash, which I have left until now to mention. You can cover the mash with cheese and breadcrumbs for a bit of extra texture and don't feel it has to be potatoes that you use, I used sweet potatoes and mixing in parsnips also works. Put the whole thing in the oven about 170c to heat it through, maybe ten or fifteen minutes. 

  I know that's more of a guide than a recipe but if you're comfy chucking stuff together in the kitchen it should make enough sense, and I'm sure you'll find the fish is just cooked to perfection. As there are so many veg in mine, I've only accompanied it with a salad. But feel free to serve it however you fancy, like as a side order accompanying a huge portion of Brussels sprouts. Scrummy!

Kirk out

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