Fish pie is this amazing game where you go treasure hunting, delving through a crispy mashed potato blanket in search for chunks of fish, giant prawns, and maybe even an egg or two. For me though, the look of a fish pie never reflects the fun of eating it, and that seems a shame. So this recipe tries to convey just a little of that fun, by scattering breadcrumb sand, samphire seagrass, and even if you fancy a sea foam to represent the waves crashing. It’s homage to the old version of the Fat Duck’s ‘Sound of the Sea’.

Fish Pie Recipe

Prep Time: 30 Mins

Cook Time: 90 Mins

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • Onions - 2

  • Garlic - 4 cloves

  • Butter - 150g

  • Double Cream - 200ml

  • Dijon Mustard - 1 heaped tsp

  • Gruyère - 100g

  • White Wine - 150ml

  • Chives - small handful

  • Thyme or Lemon Thyme - small handful

  • Fish - 500g total (mixture of cod, smoked haddock, etc - all skinless and cut into chunks)

  • King Prawns - 150g

  • Quail Eggs - 12

  • Potatoes - 750g

  • Optional: Panko Breadcrumbs (or finely chopped pecan nuts, scraps, etc) to top

  • Optional: Samphire to top

Optional: Sea Foam

  • 0.5 sheet gelatine

Method

Fish Pie Step One - Quails Eggs

In a pan of boiling water, add the quails eggs and boil for 8 minutes. Once cooked, strain and re-fill the pan with cold water to stop the eggs cooking further (and the black ring around the yolks developing). Once cool, de-shell and cut in half.

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (190°C for non-fan ovens).

Start to make the mash potato, peel and roughly chop the potato and add to boiling water (note, once the potatoes are cooked, see step Four).

 

Fish Pie Step Two - the Sauce

Dice the onions and garlic and add to a frying pan with 50g of the butter and some seasoning. Cook on low until the onions have become translucent.

Turn the heat up to high for a minute, then add the wine. Turn down to a medium heat and reduce the liquid by half.

Turn the heat to low and add the double cream, mustard, gruyère, chives and thyme (finely chopped). Warm until the cheese has melted (but not started boiling), then remove from the heat.

If you’re making the sea foam, transfer 50ml of the sauce to a whipper (if you have one) or mixing bowl. Head the gelatine sheet in a pan with a few tbsp of water until fully dissolved, add the water-gelatine mix to the sauce, and place in the fridge. If using a whipper then charge it with 1 cartridge.

 

Fish Pie STEP Three - Assembly

In a heatproof tray, distribute the raw chopped fish, prawns, and quails eggs.

 

Fish Pie STEP Four - The Mash

Once the potatoes are cooked through, strain and mash.

Stir in the remaining 100g of butter and season (you can add quite a bit of salt, but keep tasting it to make sure you don’t go ‘overboard’). You can also add a tablespoon of Dijon mustard to the mash if you like.

 

Fish Pie STEP Five - Bring it All Together

Pour the sauce over the fish, then top with the mash potato.

I put the potato in on a slant, to make it look like the sea level rising towards the beach.

Once, assembled, place in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until piping hot all the way through and golden brown on top.

 

Fish Pie STEP SIX - Fish Pie

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If you’re using a sand topping, fry the breadcrumbs (or pecan nuts, scraps, etc) in a pan until crispy and top the pie to make a beach. Also place the samphire to make the seagrass.

If you’re using the foam, then add just before serving (as it’ll melt fairly quickly). If using a whipper, the squirt the foam around the samphire, if not then using an electric whisk, whip the mixture and spoon the foam it creates onto the pie.

And that’s it, hope you enjoy!