Luscious fish pie

I over-committed myself a little this weekend – ok, a lot – and spent endless hours in the kitchen cooking for friends. We had a brekkie barbie on Saturday, a lamb roast for Sunday lunch, and a fish pie for Sunday dinner. I’ve shared the slow-roast lamb recipe before, and the barbie is just about slapping sausage, bacon, eggs, tomato, mushrooms and haloumi on the grill. The fish pie is based on a Rick Stein recipe. It’s rich and delicious. Perfect comfort food. But hard to photograph attractively, especially after a few chardies. If you want it to look clarsy, bake and serve it in individual ramekins.

LUSCIOUS FISH PIE

INGREDIENTS: 1 onion, thickly sliced; 2 cloves; 1 bay leaf; 600ml milk; 300ml cream; 450g white fish (I used ling); 250g smoked fish (I used trout, but that scary orange dyed fish possibly gives a better flavour); 4 eggs; 100g butter; 45g plain flour; sprinkle of nutmeg; salt and white pepper; 1.25kg floury potatoes.

METHOD: Put onion slices, cloves, bay leaf, milk, cream and fish into a pan. Bring just to the boil and simmer 8 minutes. Lift fish out onto a plate and strain the cooking liquid into a jug. When the fish cools, break into large flakes, throw away any skin and bones. Sprinkle it over the base of a shallow oven-proof dish. Hard boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then drain and leave to cool. Peel, cut into chunky slices and arrange on top of the fish. Melt 50g of butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the reserved cooking liquid. Return it to the heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time. Leave it to simmer gently for 10 minutes to cook out the flour. Stir in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour over the fish and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour. Boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes. Drain, mash and add the rest of the butter and the egg yolk. Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Beat in enough of the remaining milk to form a soft, spreadable mash. Preheat oven to 200C. Spoon potato over filling and bake for 35-40 minutes until piping hot and golden brown.

TIP: Rather than boiling the buggery out of eggs, I simply bring them to an initial boil, then turn off the heat, put a lid on the saucepan and leave them for 10 minutes. Stops them bursting at the seams etc. My mother-in-law taught me, clever woman.