James Martin's fisherman's pie recipe
Fluffy mashed potatoes, creamy sauce and pretty much any kind of seafood you please – there's nothing more versatile (or satisfying) than a warming fish pie.
This recipe, from chef and TV personality James Martin's new book, POTATO: Baked, Mashed, Roast, Fried, uses a combination of haddock, cod, scallops, prawns and Arbroath smokies (hot-smoked haddock from Arbroath, Scotland). You can also tweak the recipe depending on what you happen to have in the fridge or freezer and, as James points out, this is a great dish for batch-cooking.
"The great thing about fish pie is that you can make it a few days in advance and cook it when required, plus it freezes quite well," says James. "Whatever fish you use, I always like to add smoked haddock in some form to give the pie a depth of flavour."
Ingredients
- 450 g haddock, skin removed
- 450 g cod, skin removed
- 12 scallops
- 24 prawns, peeled and deveined
- 2 Arbroath smokies (optional)
- 500 ml full-fat milk
- 2 bay leaves
- 0.5 onion, studded with 4 cloves
- 40 g butter
- 2.5 tbsp plain flour
- 1 small bunch of parsley, chopped
- 800 g mashed potato
- 50 g butter, melted
- 100 ml double cream
- 600 g frozen peas
- 1 knob of butter
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Pie
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 60 mins
- Serves: 6
Step-by-step
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/gas 6).
- Cut the haddock and cod into large chunks, pop into an ovenproof dish and top with the scallops, prawns and flakes of Arbroath smokies, if using.
- Add the milk, bay leaves and onion studded with the cloves to a pan and heat through gently for 2 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaves and onion.
- To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a pan, whisk in the flour and cook out for 2 minutes. Add the milk and whisk, simmering until bubbling. Stir in the parsley.
- Cover the fish with the sauce. Mix the mashed potato with the butter and cream and dollop over the top of the fish, spreading to cover the whole pie. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
- Meanwhile, add the peas to a pan of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain, return to the pan and stir through the butter to melt. Serve with the fish pie.
Recipe extracted from POTATO: Baked, Mashed, Roast, Fried by James Martin (Quadrille, £23). Photography by John Carey.
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