Fish Pie - an amazing taste sensation

Having bought a stockpile of fish after visiting a market at closing time I am steadily working my was through a freezer shelf of white fillets. Up until now I had not considered a pie. Reading elsewhere and seeing mention of a chicken and vegetable pie inspired the fish pie.

Keeping in mind that this pie was intended for anklebiters as well as adults, I set about it in a very mundane, mummy way. I diced some carrot and simmered it with dehydrated peas and corn, a very handy pantry staple. What I did though, was to simmer the vegetables in fish stock and once cooked I drained them and kept the stock, not letting it escape down the sink. I diced the fish, in this case a firm white fillet, labelled tusk fish. This was pan fried and much to my annoyance stuck to the bottom of the pan. It is a new frypan and not a nonstick coated one this time. Perhaps it wasn't as hot as it should have been. Once the fish was cooked it was put to one side with the vegetables. In the frypan, crusted with the remains of the fish, I made a white sauce using the retained fish stock. Once this was done, I added some chopped spring onions, stirred in the vegetables and fish and poured it into a baking dish.

The mixture didn't fill the dish to the top, so instead of laying the puff pastry across the top of the dish, I cut it to size and lay it on top of the filling. I decorated it with the cut off pastry, gave it a brush with a beaten egg and baked it is a 200C oven for 30 minutes. After letting it stand for 5 minutes we sat down to ate.

I cut through the crunchy pastry and scooped out the filling onto everyone's plate. Both kids turned up their noses at it and this was indeed fortunate as after one taste my husband and I devoured ours and started on the kids. What had started out as a routine fish pie had turned into a mouth watering gourmet experience. Perhaps the vegetables cooked in the fish stock, the white sauce then made with this stock, incorporating the crunchy pieces of fish stuck to the bottom of the pan had elevated this dish from ordinary to something special. We both agreed that this is a dish that shall definately be appearing on the family menu again.

When I make a white sauce now, I use a scoop from my bulk mix. Both the kids like maceroni cheese and to make up a small amount of white sauce can sometimes be somewhat tiresome. I came across a recipe on the Simple Savings web site for a bulk white sauce mix that saves a lot of time and trouble and allows you to make up as much sauce as you need.

Bulk White Sauce Mix
2 cups milk powder (skim or full cream)
1 cup plain (all purpose flour)
2 teaspoons salt
200g butter

Process all ingredients in a food processor until they resemble fine bread crumbs
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 months or indefinately in the freezer.

To use the white sauce mix
1/2 cup white sauce mix
1 cup cool water
combine the white sauce mix and water and whisk over medium heat until thick
Add cheese, curry, etc if required.

I now have a new camera, so once I have read the instructions and found the right buttons there will be pictures to accompany the words.

Happy eating!