Fish pie for under £3

Martin Pilkington
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This recipe was part of a series of recipes all of which could all be made for around £3. The smoked flavour of the kippers is lovely here, but if you don’t like it double up the pollack (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall would probably approve), or substitute with a handful of small frozen prawns. You could also include some parsnips in the mash to smuggle another vegetable in, their sweetness works well here.

Ingredients

175 g frozen pollack (2 fillets), defrosted
190 g tin of kippers
2 medium onions chopped finely
1 medium carrot chopped finely
1 kg potatoes
500 ml milk
50 g plain flour
50 g butter

Details

Cuisine: British
Recipe Type: Main
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 4

Step-by-step

In a heavy-based saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat and fry the onions and carrot for two minutes or so, until the onion becomes translucent. Heat the oven to 220 degrees.
While this is happening, get the milk very hot (don't boil it over).
Stir the flour into the buttery veg, and cook gently for two minutes - it can brown a little but not burn.
Pour in a little of the hot milk and stir to amalgamate, then more, until all used up. Cook over a very low heat, stirring occasionally, until you have a nice thick white sauce with no taste of flour remaining.
While the sauce is cooking, boil your peeled and chunked potatoes until cooked through, then drain (reserving a little of the liquid) and mash them. You want nice moist mash, so if they feel too dry, add a little of the potato water back in. Season the mash to taste.
Pour the sauce into a suitable gratin dish, or an oven-proof casserole, then add the broken up pollack and kippers plus their oil and mix to distribute the fish more-or-less evenly in the sauce.
Gently spoon the mash on top of the fish and sauce so it doesn't sink in, and spread to cover. Drag the surface of the spuds with a fork to make ridges that will brown nicely in the oven.
Cook in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the top is starting to brown. To save cleaning the oven it's a good idea to have the gratin dish in a big roasting dish, as the sauce can bubble up and spill a little in cooking.