Proper Fish Pie

Name: Proper Fish Pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: Serves 4–6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 300g smoked haddock; 300g cod or hake; 150g raw king prawns; 500ml milk; 1 bay leaf; few peppercorns; Sauce: 75g butter, 75g flour, the poaching milk, handful of chopped parsley; 2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered (optional but traditional); Topping: 1kg potatoes, 60g butter, splash of milk, 40g grated cheddar

Smoked haddock, cod and prawns in a parsley cream sauce beneath buttery mash — coastal England’s answer to the shepherd’s pie, and a Friday night institution.

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 40 min
Total: 70 min
Yield: Serves 4–6
Difficulty: Moderate
Era: Victorian

Ingredients

300g smoked haddock; 300g cod or hake
150g raw king prawns
500ml milk; 1 bay leaf; few peppercorns
Sauce: 75g butter, 75g flour, the poaching milk, handful of chopped parsley
2 hard-boiled eggs, quartered (optional but traditional)
Topping: 1kg potatoes, 60g butter, splash of milk, 40g grated cheddar

Method

Oven200°C400°FFan 180°CGas 6

Poach the fish in the milk with bay and peppercorns for 5 minutes; lift out, flake, and strain the milk.
Make the sauce: melt the butter, stir in the flour for 2 minutes, whisk in the milk and simmer until thick. Add parsley.
Fold the flaked fish, prawns and eggs into the sauce and tip into a baking dish.
Mash the potatoes with butter and milk; spread over the filling, fork into waves and scatter with cheese.
Bake at 200°C / 400°F (fan 180°C, gas 6) for 25–30 minutes until golden and bubbling at the edges.

Oven temperatures are given in Celsius, Fahrenheit, fan and gas mark throughout. Quantities are metric, as cooked and written in the UK.