A Quick Fish Pie Supper
I like fish pies and there are several entries for fish pie. If I have time, I will cook my version of Jamie Oliver’s Fish Pie.
But today, I found a new gluten-free fish pie in Marks and Spencer, so I had to try it.
I cooked it in the microwave and it was of a very different type to Jamie’s, being creamy rather than having a good proportion of vegetables. Although, both have a potato topping, rather than a pastry pie-crust.
It was well-worth buying, cooking and eating, at a cost of £3.80 for one.
Note the tomato sauce in the pictures. I’ve found some very dodgy fish pies and cooked some of my own, in my time, that needed it.
This one certainly did not!
Next time, I’ll cook it in the oven, although I think both methods will work, but you may get a different texture of pie.
Cinty’s Fish Pie With Celia
Cinty’s fish pie is excellent and goes down well with a beer.
Cinty’s Fish Pie With Celia
I made two and the other kept in the fridge for a couple of days.
Serial Cooking – Cinty’s French Fish Pie
This fish pie is another Lindsey Bareham recipe, that is an ideal two portion dish.
It is easy to do and I suspect that the completed dish could be prepared earlier and left in the fridge for most of the day.
The one here, gives me two portions for two suppers or a meal with a friend.
A friend of mine does this recipe a lot. She says it is easy to modify for however many are turning up for supper. She also says she doesn’t get complaints.
Cinty’s French Fish Pie
Because this recipe from Lindsey Bareham is so good and very quick, I’m putting the pictures up from when I made two on Friday; one for my supper and one for the fridge and later.
I first took 400 g. of trimmed leeks, halved them lengthways and made an attempt to slice them into thin half moons, before I rinsed and drained them. Note that as with all Lindsey Bareham’s recipes it’s based on the standard sizes of packs you get in Waitrose. So it’s 400 g because that’s the size of their packs of trimmed leeks.
A friend has said that she has a problem with leeks. But no matter, as the original recipe also specified the use of fennel!
400 g Of Prepared Leeks
At this point I put my oven on to 200°C.
I then melted 20 g of butter in my Le Creuset shallow casserole and stirred in the leeks, seasoning with salt and pepper. I covered and cooked them for 8-15 minutes, giving the occasional stir, until they were tender or in my case looked like the algae you get on ponds.
Cooking The Leeks
I then added 75 ml of dry white wine and simmered briskly, uncovered, until it was just juicy and not wet.
Juicy Not Wet Leeks
The leeks were then put into two 0.6 litre Le Creuset dishes, which I find make the ideal size pies for one.
Leeks In Le Creuset Dishes
And a piece of haddock was carefully placed on top. A tip here is to go a fishmonger, who sells square fish! As I got mine in a packet from Waitrose, they were a bit fish-shaped and didn’t fit too well.
Fish On The Leeks
The fish was in turn covered with crème fraiche. I used about 150 ml per pie and just spread it with a trowel like you would Artex.
After Adding The Creme Fraiche
It was then covered with a mixture of breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan. I actually used a couple of slices of Genius bread, which I decrusted sand then pulverised with the parmesan in my Little Chopper. Here’s the one I kept for later, just before I wrapped it in clingfilm.
A Pie Ready For The Oven
The other was in the oven for thirty minutes and came out a lovely shade of brown, which I forgot to photograph at the time. This picture shows it on my plate, just before I ate it.
A Pie Ready For The Stomach
It was delicious and the great thing about this recipe, is that there is only a little washing up to do! So if like me, you have to do it yourself, It’s not too much of a problem.
A Fish Pie For St. David’s Day
Lindsey Bareham on Friday published a recipe called Cinty’s French Fish Pie.
As it used a lot of leeks, surely it is not French, but Welsh. The leeks were cooked in fifteen minutes, and placed in the bottom of one of my Le Creuset dishes, then covered with a fillet of haddock for each dish, which was then covered with crème fraiche and a crust of breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Here’s the finished pie.
![DSCN7850[1]](https://anonw.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/dscn78501.jpg?w=450&h=337 "A Fish Pie For St. David's Day")
A Fish Pie For St. David’s Day
A Second Lazy Fish Pie
I said in this post, where I cooked Lindsey Bareham’s Emmental and Spinach Fish Pie, that I msde two and put one in the freezer. I cooked it for supper tonight.
A Second Lazy Fish Pie
It froze and cooked well and tasted no different to the first one. It really is a truly lazy fish pie, as Lindsey says.
This is very lazy fish pie. No sauce, just grated Emmental, a fillet of fish per person, spinach, mashed potato and more cheese. The mash is enriched with beaten egg so it holds its shape and crisps as it bakes. For more or less servings adjust the ingredients in proportion.
I shall be cooking this one again. They are probably best cooked in pairs, as fish seem to be packaged that way in supermarkets, so with me, it’s one for now an d one for the freezer. I will probably cook haddock one week and salmon or cod the next.
I can’t cook more than two at a time, as my mixing bowl isn’t big enough to cook more spinach than is needed to two pies.
A Lazy Fish Pie
This was one from Lindsey Bareham in The Times last week, called an Emmental and Spinach Fish Pie.
A Lazy Fish Pie
It was little effort at all, and I made two, one of which I froze.
Twin Pies
I shall be eating it on Saturday night, when I get back from the football.
It Was Fish Pie Tonight
As I hadn’t cooked pone for some time, I decided to cook one of my version of Jamie’s Oliver’s Fish Pie.
It Was Fish Pie Tonight
I could have perhaps put a few more potatoes on top, but otherwise it was good.
My other worry, is that how long will the remainder keep in the fridge!
Waitrose’s Fish Pies
I find them very confusing and I’ve written to the company.
I am a coeliac and some of your pies have gluten and some don’t. I of course must have the gluten-free ones.
This means that when I want a fish pie, I have to turn it upside down to check. The only ones I can eat are the Fish Pie for One in, I think, the Essentials range.
Perhaps a gluten-free symbol on the front would be the best solution.
In fact your ready meals puzzle me, as some that when I cook a similar dish from scratch don’t have gluten. But yours do!
I have been looked at rather strangely by some of your staff, as I go through all the meals looking for the gluten-free ones.
I shall be interested to see what they say.
Jamie Oliver’s Fish Pie
I like this recipe as except for the potato saucepan, there isn’t too much washing up and most of the preparation is done in the dish you cook it in. It’s also very gluten-free without any dodgy ingredient at all.
Here’s what Jamie says about it.
This is a fantastically simple fish pie which doesn’t involve poaching the fish or making a tedious white sauce. Loads of good, fragrant veg are added quickly by grating them in. You can use whatever fish you like, making this as luxurious as you want it to be. If you like your fish pie to be creamy, feel free to add a few tablespoons of crème fraîche to the fish.
For four people and a typical deep dish you’ll get in somewhere like Debenhams, you’ll need the following.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1kg potatoes
- 1 carrot
- 2 sticks of celery
- 150g good Cheddar cheese
- 1 lemon
- ½ a fresh red chilli
- 4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 300g salmon fillets, skin off and bones removed
- 300g undyed smoked haddock fillets, skin off and bones removed
- 125g king prawns, raw, peeled
- Olive oil
- Optional: a good handful of spinach, chopped
- Optional: a couple of ripe tomatoes, quartered
Note that Waitrose will take the skin of the fish. I suspect other places and of course real fishmongers will too.
This is the method.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and bring a large pan of salted water to the boil
- Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm chunks
- Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes and cook for around 12 minutes, until soft (you can stick your knife into them to check)
- Meanwhile, get yourself a deep baking tray or earthenware dish and stand a box grater in it
- Peel the carrot
- Grate the celery, carrot and Cheddar on the coarse side of the grater
- Use the fine side of the grater to grate the zest from the lemon
- Finely grate or chop your chilli
- Finely chop the parsley leaves and stalks and add these to the tray
- Cut the salmon and smoked haddock into bite-size chunks and add to the tray with the prawns
- Squeeze over the juice from the zested lemon (no pips please!), drizzle with olive oil and add a good pinch of salt and pepper
- If you want to add any spinach or tomatoes, do it now
- Mix everything together really well
- By now your potatoes should be cooked, so drain them in a colander and return them to the pan
- Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper
- Mash until nice and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the fish and grated veg
- Place in the preheated oven for around 40 minutes, or until cooked through, crispy and golden on top
Serve piping hot with tomato ketchup, baked beans, steamed veg or a lovely green salad.
I would just point this recipe to Jamie’s site, but I like to print out the recipes as I have a bad memory. And it doesn’t print from his site on my machine.
The Anonymous Widower 