Quite a lot of work involved here since there are three stages to preparing the pie: the sauce, the mashed potatoes and the assembly. In addition, the sauce and the potatoes should be cold when you assemble the pie – it’s a food safety thing. It’s best to find some time during the day for the preparation so that it is ready to put in the oven 45 minutes or so before you want to eat it. You could stir a few shredded spinach leaves or some frozen peas into the sauce to make the pie into a complete meal.
For 4 generous portions
1 x recipe Bechamel sauce (see Sherbhert recipe https://sherbhert.com/cookery-skills-bechamel-sauce/ )
4 large potatoes, suitable for mashing, (such as Maris Piper) peeled, washed and cut into chunks
800g of firm white fish fillets (any skin removed) such as coley or haddock, cut into chunks
25g butter plus some extra for greasing the dish
120mls full fat milk
Salt and pepper
Whole nutmeg
The leaves from a small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until they are very tender. Drain them and mash them with the milk and butter until they are beautifully fluffy and lump free. Check the seasoning and add pepper, freshly grated nutmeg and more salt if you like. Let the potatoes cool at room temperature – you could transfer them to a plate to speed up the process rather than leave them in the warm pan.
Grease an oven proof dish (approx. 20cmx25cmx5cm) with a little of the butter. Add the prepared and seasoned sauce to the dish and stir in half the chopped parsley. Place the chunks of fish evenly over the sauce.
Pile the potatoes on top of the fish etc. and spread them evenly with a fork.
Scatter with the rest of the parsley on top and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. The pie should be thoroughly hot, and the potatoes flecked golden brown.
