I wanted to use up the rest of my fish order from Larry’s Catch and thought fish pie might be the way to go. This one is a riff on Rick Stein’s Puff Pastry Topped Fish Pie but I also had a big leek that I didn’t want to waste and no corn flour so I improvised a little (ok, a lot, I improvised a lot). But I’m happy with the result.

Ingredients

• 1 package puff pastry thawed and ready to roll (make your own if you must)
• 8 oz package of haddock
• 8 oz package of black cod
• 8 oz package of smoked haddock, flaked or chopped
• 8 oz package of scallops (note: I would use shrimp next time. Scallops cook very quickly and 30 minutes in the oven is way too long for them IMHO – they were, admittedly a little tough which made me sad).
• 1 large leak, cleaned and slicked fine
• 300 mL whole milk (although honestly it doesn’t matter that much)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 Tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
• fresh ground pepper (note: the smoked haddock is pretty salty so I didn’t bother to salt this dish and it worked out fine)
• pinch of nutmeg, if you like it
• 1 egg yolk beaten with a little water for brushing the pastry.

You’ll need a large, shallow, oven safe pan or baking dish

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F.
2. Using a wide oven proof pan, heat the milk, add the haddock and the codef (not the scallops or smoked haddock) and poach for 3-5 minutes.
3. Remove pan from heat and use a slotted spoon to remove the fish. Reserve the milk.
4. Once fish is cool, peel off any skin and break into large chunks.
5. White the milk is cooling a little, melt the butter and sauté the leeks until translucent.
6. Sprinkle on the flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly (it’ll seize up a bit but don’t worry about that).
7. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and then slowly add the warm milk and keep stirring until the sauce thickens.
8. Stir in the cheese and the pinch of nutmeg.
9. Add the parsley, poached fish, flaked smoke haddock and the scallops (or use peeled shrimp – again, you don’t need to pre-cook the shrimp, the oven will take care of that).
10. Pour the mixture into an oven proof dish or pan or do what I did and make it all in the same pan (ha).
11. Roll out the puff pastry to about a 1/4 inch and reserve a bit to make a fish shape if you like (or don’t, you do you).
12. Top the pie with the pastry and seal the edges (I missed this step).
13. Baste the top with the egg wash, top with your fish and re-baste it as well.
14. Add a few slashes in the pastry to let the steam out and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes or until the pastry puffs and it’s golden brown.
15. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
16. Serve with whatever green veg you prefer.

Make 8 servings.

Alternatively, you do like our lovely family friend Saara did for us recently and make Jamie Oliver’s curried fish pie:  https://youtu.be/nnkKVp8ztSY?si=QkTyakvDjXzRPLHQ

It looked like this (and it was delicious!).

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