Seafood heaven - Fish pie by Rick Stein...

I wanted to make a fish pie for ages and i finally got around that. It was delicious, really words can't describe it! I used Rick Stein's recipe from his book "Seafood". I knew he is very passionate about seafood and that his recipe will be foolproof - and it was! The only change I made was to add a little bit of grated cheddar to the potatoes. This pie is what I call a comfort food :)
If you like seafood you HAVE to try this. It will be perfect for a dinner party as a centre piece on your table or just enjoy it on your own. i think you can easily follow all the steps and freeze it instead of putting it into the oven. I have to warn you that this amount of ingredients will make you a rather big fish pie.


How to make it...
Ingredients:
- 1 small onion, thickly sliced
- a few cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 600 ml milk
- 300 ml double cream
- 450 g cod or haddock fillets (or any other similar white fish) with skin on
- 225 g undyed smoked cod or haddock fillets
- 4 eggs
- 100 g butter
- 45 g plain flour
- 5 tablespoons chopped parsley
- freshly grated nutmeg
- 1.25 kg peeled floury potatoes (Maris Piper or King Edward)
- 1 egg yolk
- salt and white pepper


Stud the onion slices with a few cloves and put in a large saucepan with 450ml of the milk , the cream, all the fish and the bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes.
Lift the fish out onto a plate using a slotted spoon, and strain the cooking liquor through a sieve into a jug. When the fish is cool enough to handle, break it into bite-size chunks, discarding the skin and any bones you might find. Sprinkle the fish over the bottom of a large oven-proof dish.
Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then chop into quarters and scatter on top of the fish.
Melt 50g of butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for one minute. Take the pan off the heat and very gradually add the reserved fish liquor, stirring constantly. Return it to the heat and slowly bring it to the boil, still stirring all the time. Let it simmer gently for about 10 minutes to cook out the flour.
Remove from the heat once more. Stir in the parsley, and season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Once cooled, refrigerate for about an hour.
Boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes. Drain and mash with the remaining butter and the egg yolk. Season with salt and white pepper. Beat in enough milk to make a soft, spreadable mash (softer than normal mashed potatoes).
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Spoon the potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until piping hot and golden brown.

Bon appétit!

P.S. Unfortunately there's no good/pretty way of plating/presenting a fish pie... ;)