Fish pie

  • medium
  • 6
  • 1 hour 40 minutes
Not yet rated

Tom Aiken's beautiful fish pie recipe elevates a classic comfort dish to new levels. Laden with mussels, salmon, scallops, monkfish and megrim sole, this fish pie will be a princely seafood treat to tuck into. If you want to prepare this fish pie recipe ahead of time, cook the fish and sauce together and place in the pie dish to cool. Once cool, pipe on the mash and keep in the fridge. Pull the pie from the fridge 30 minutes prior to reheating, and cook for 25 minutes in the oven at 180ºC.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Fish pie

White sauce

Mashed potato topping

Parsley crumb topping

Equipment

  • Piping bag with star nozzle

Method

1
To begin the fish pie, place the diced potatoes into 1 litre water with 8g salt in a pot or large saucepan. Place the pot on to the heat and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and then simmer the potatoes for 30 minutes
2
While the potatoes simmer, make the sauce. Place the milk and bay leaf in to a pan and bring the to the boil, then remove from heat. In another saucepan, melt 45g butter in a pan on a low heat then add the flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly
  • 700ml of milk
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 45g of butter
  • 55g of flour
3
Pour the hot milk little by little in to the flour and butter mix, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low, add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for 8 minutes at a low temperature. Remove the bay leaf
4
Melt the remaining 30g butter in a pan on a low heat and add the chopped onion. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes so they sweat and don’t colour. Add the wine and continue to cook until the liquid is reduced by ⅔
5
Add the white sauce, Parmesan, Gruyère and cream to the onions and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly, then remove from the heat. Place parchment paper on top of the sauce in the pan to prevent it from forming a skin, then set aside
6
When the potatoes are cooked, drain them in a colander. Place the potatoes back in the pot and dry out on a low heat for 1 minute. Add the 80g butter while you mash the potatoes, then add 2g salt and warm milk to bring it together. Remove from the heat, then mix in the nutmeg and egg yolks
7
For the parsley crumb topping, place the breadcrumbs in a food processor with the lemon zest, garlic, parsley, olive oil, and salt and pepper to season. Blitz until just coarsely chopped--no more than 20-30 seconds. Place the crumb mixture into a bowl and add the Parmesan and Gruyère
8
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4 and put the mash into a piping bag with a large star nozzle
9
Simmer the fish pie sauce on the stove, then add the seasoned fish starting with the monkfish. Cook the monkfish in the sauce for 30 seconds, then add the megrim sole. Cook the sole for 30 seconds, then add the salmon fillets and scallop slices and cook for 30 seconds more
10
Once the fish have cooked, add the mussels, chopped chives and sliced spring onions to warm through for a few seconds. Place the fish and sauce in a suitable pie dish and pipe on the warm mashed potato. Sprinkle over the crumb topping and bake for 15 minutes until the crumb topping melts and is golden in colour
First published in 2015

Tom Aikens is one of the most creative and talented chefs Britain has ever seen, with a restaurant empire to match.

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