Fabulous Fish Pie

At this time of year (spring but still cold) when you want comfort food, but don't want a heavy stew-type dish this fabulous Fish Pie is perfect.

I make the potato topping more interesting by adding some celeriac, and whole grain mustard or finely chopped curly kale (obviously when it is in season).


450g mixed fish selection (cod, smoked undyed haddock, salmon)
A good hand full of fresh or frozen prawns, squid rings, muscles (defrosted)
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
1medium carrot chopped
1 stick of celery chopped
1 leek finely sliced
Sprig of fresh thyme
Chopped parsley
1 bay leaf

50g butter
50g flour
Approx 250 ml milk
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper

6 good sized potatoes (floury variety)
Either half a celeriac or a good bunch of kale

Firstly sauté the vegetables and herbs in some olive or rape seed oil.  Cover the pan to allow them to cook in their own steam.  If you add them undercooked to the pie they will not cook properly.

In another pan add the fish pieces into enough milk to just cover it and place on a low heat until it just changes colour.  Do not attempt to boil or overcook it.  Defrost the shell fish and squid if necessary and dry off any excess water. Set aside.  Drain the fish and reserve the milk.

Make a bechamel by melting the butter in a pan, add in flour, stirring to cook it for a minute.  Add the milk from cooking the fish slowly and keep stirring until the sauce thickens.  Add more or less milk depending on the consistency.  Add some salt, pepper and the Dijon mustard.  Stand the sauce aside to cool.  When it is cool add the fish and the shellfish.  Add in the cooled vegetables.  Stir gently and transfer to an oven proof baking dish.

Make the potato topping by steaming or boiling the potatoes and celeriac if using.  Mash and add some butter, milk, wholegrain mustard and seasoning to taste.  If using the kale, wash and place in a pan and cook on a low heat as you would with spinach.  Remove when wilted, chop finely and mix into the mash.  Adding some nutmeg gives a lovely flavour.

Pipe the mash onto the fish mixture and place into a preheated oven at 160 deg C until nicely browned and bubbling.  If you ripple the potato with a fork you will get a nice crispy effect.

This fish pie freezes beautifully.  Cut into portions sizes when cool. Then when you don't feel like cooking or are in a rush you can defrost it in minutes in a microwave and reheat.

Tags: Fabulous Fish Pie  Fish Food

A Rant on Food Waste

With a large percentage of the world's population suffering from hunger and malnutrition you would think that the western world would be aware and cognisant of food waste.  You would also think that in times of recession people would be even more conscious.  Well you would think!  However, sadly this does not appear to be so.  For a good number of years including the last few depressing ones, I have been horrified at the amount of waste by individuals and by businesses.  I have seen and heard of people who open their fridge; look at an item and the "use by" or even "sell by" date and casually throw the item in the bin.  Without even opening it or smelling it......

Since I have had contact with chefs, I have also been appalled at the waste in hotel and restaurant kitchens.  My son and my ex-partner - both chefs, have brought me meat and fish trimmings for my dogs.  I was always delighted to receive them, however, increasingly my delight turned to horror at the waste of perfectly good meat.  Huge long pieces trimmed off a fillet of beef.  Equally long pieces cut off a salmon.  These "trimmings" included perfectly lean meat that with a bit of actual trimming could have been minced and turned into burgers, lasagnes, shepherd's pies, fish cakes etc.  A daily budget item on a menu or a special.

I often wonder are managers and owners aware of this or do they approve of it.  Apart from the sheer, wanton waste there is a waste disposal cost.  Is it a case of they do not have the manpower to put in the few hours it would take every week or is it just laziness?   Are head chefs not held accountable for waste?  Can businesses afford to literally throw food away?  I think not; but I am constantly hearing how hard it is to be profitable in a food business, with the excessive costs such as wages, rates, utilities etc.

I have also heard that food businesses cannot donate excess or "waste" food to homeless shelters or the poor in case they are sued for causing food poisoning. Now don't even get me started on how ridiculous our rules on food safety have become, because I think they are a lot to blame for the-check- the-date-and-bin-it brigade.  The human constitution has evolved to withstand a substantial onslaught from germs.  If we hadn't we would have been wiped out a long time ago.  Whatever happened to common sense?  If it looks bad and smells bad then the chances are it is bad.  If not; rely on your taste buds especially if you know your fridge is at the correct temperature and you have handled it correctly from the time you purchased it.  I know one thing - it works for me. 


Tags: Food Waste  Food Reuse  Food

Hands off our Buns!

Can you imagine the entire American continent and possibly Canada as well watch an episode of Fair City where two of the characters are sitting on the steps of a block of apartments eating buns or fairy cakes and chatting about their love lives?  On foot of this they rename cupcakes - buns!  Slightly implausible?  Well correct me if I am wrong but is this not what we have done this side of the Atlantic?  I had never heard of cupcakes before Sex and the City and I lived in the US as a student for 18 months a good number of years ago.

 Cupcakes were so called originally because they were baked in individual pottery cups before muffin tins were available. They may also have been named after the method of measuring the ingredients using cups.  Here, they were referred to as fairy cakes - particularly if they were iced and they also may have had the tip of the bun sliced off, cut in half and placed on top of the icing to resemble the wings of a fairy.

We baked fairy cakes as kids for parties and special occasions.  Buns were more bog standard - often not iced but they may have had dried fruit added or just were a plain Victoria mix.  As far as I can see the recipes for cupcakes and fairy cakes/buns are basically the same.  Some people swear by addition of yoghurt to a mix to keep them fresher for longer. 

The craze for cupcakes this side of the Atlantic seems to be never ending and ever more fanciful decorations and toppings are being thought up every day.  They have now become popular as wedding cakes.  I can only imagine my grandmother's words if she had been alive to witness this fashion.  In her day it was traditional to have the rich fruit cake; iced and decorated in tiers so that the top tier was preserved as the Christening cake for the first child. 

The thing that bugs me most about the cupcake craze is not the concept of the cupcake itself but the desire to slavishly follow fashion set by America.  It is almost as if we have to rename our fairy cakes or buns to make them more desirable and to sell.  Traditional American baking fashions and methods are to be no less admired than our traditions; but why sell out on our own?