Old-school fish pie

Serves:

Serves 4

Ingredients

Topping

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed_
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

White sauce

• 20g butter
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1/3 cup (40g) Cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 500g fresh salmon fillets (pin-boned)
• 2 1/4 cups (560mls) whole milk
• 1 cup (120g) peas, cooked

Method

To cook the fish, place onions, bay leaf and milk in a large saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer, add the fish fillets, cover and let simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain, reserving 2 cups of milk for the white sauce. Preheat oven to 200C (180C fan) and lightly grease a 22x22cm ovenproof ceramic dish.

To make the sauce, melt butter in a small pan and once bubbling, stir through the flour until texture is coarse and sandy. Remove from heat and add a splash of the reserved milk, whisking until smooth. Return to the heat and gradually add the remaining milk, whisking constantly until you have a smooth, white sauce. Stir through the cheese and season to taste.

Place fish and peas on the base of your baking dish, pour over the sauce and gently mix through. Cut the pastry into one large circle and drape across the pie. Crimp the edges with a fork, brush with egg and bake for 35 minutes and serve or cover with foil, refrigerate or freeze and reheat when needed.

Find more fish recipes

• Beer batter fish
• Easy crumbed fish
• Exotic fish finger rolls
• Fish and chips
• Fish cakes
• Fish cakes with sweet chilli mayo
• Fish in foil
• Healthy fish and chips
• Healthy fish fingers
• Lemony fish bites
• Seafood risotto
• Thai fish cakes

Serving Suggestions

Note

• This has to be one of my kids’ all-time favourite dinners so we don’t wait until Easter to have it.
• You could swap some or all of the salmon for smoked fish, prawns and/or mussels and if you prefer, top with mashed potato instead of pastry.
• Make in advance and either freeze or store in the fridge until needed. It’s the kind of thing I love to have waiting in the fridge on those cool weeknights when we have sport after school and arrive home late, starving and needing a warm meal in a matter of minutes.