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NURSERY FISH PIE

NURSERY FISH PIE

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Serves: 8

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  • Nigella Recipe

There are certain days when only something soothing and comforting and topped with mash potato will do; on such days, this pie could make you weep with gratitude. In extremis, top quality bought mash (such as from the Good As Going Out range at Waitrose) will do as a substitute for peeling, cooking and mashing real potatoes.

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Ingredients

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  • 1.5 kilograms floury potatoes
  • 150 grams butter
  • 750 grams haddock
  • 1 kilogram smoked haddock
  • 500 ml full fat milk
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon white peppercorns
  • 125 grams frozen peas
  • 75 grams plain flour
  • 125 grams Cheddar cheese (grated)
  • 3 large hard-boiled eggs
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Method

  1. Peel the potatoes and cut them in half or quarters, depending on size, and put them in a pan of salted water to cook from cold. When they're tender, drain and then mash them with 75g / ¾ stick of the butter, seasoning to taste.
  2. Put the fish into a large frying pan with the milk, bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring the milk in the pan to a boil, then immediately turn down and simmer the fish until it is just cooked through. Remove the fish to a plate and pour the cooking liquid into a jug, straining out the bay leaves and peppercorns.
  3. Meanwhile, put the frozen peas in a bowl, pour over some boiling water and preheat the oven to gas mark 5/190°C/375ºF, slipping in a baking sheet as you do so.
  4. Melt the remaining 75g / ¾ stick of butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour to make a roux.
  5. Take this off the heat briefly, just while you gradually whisk in the fishy milk, then put back over a medium heat and keep stirring until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens. Let it bubble away for a couple of minutes and then take off the heat and stir in most of the cheese (leaving some to sprinkle over the top of the pie later) and the drained peas.
  6. Flake the fish, making sure not to let it disintegrate too much, and use it to line a 3-litre / 12-cup ovenproof dish and pour the sauce over, using a rubber spatula to help you distribute it equally and meld it with the fish. Cut the hard-boiled eggs into slices and arrange the golden-centred discs over the top of the fish in sauce. Top with the mashed potato, using a spatula, again, to help you coax it right over the sides. With a fork, scrape lines up and down the length of the dish and then sprinkle with a little grated Cheddar before putting it on the sheet in the oven for 20-40 minutes, depending on whether you're putting the pie in hot or cold.

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  • This fish pie is one of the best things culinary things that's happened to me recently! Just the thing for after a long day at work with one too many crises: easy to prepare and just so comforting and gratifying. Thanks, Nigella.

    Posted by HCH on 17th Jan 2013 at 17.01