I’ve always wanted to make a fish pie, not too sure why I have not made one before…..

When inviting us to Linga Longa, Bruce asked me to make a Creamy Fish Pie, after several discussions with my “cheffy” friend Shannon we’ve decided that I need to combine two recipes….. out of experience I know that when it comes to food, Shannon knows best… so here we go.

For the Creamy Fish Pie you will need:

10 Medium size peeled and quartered potatoes – for the mash
100g butter – for the mash
125 ml warm milk – for the mash
1 pinch of salt – for the mash

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 finely sliced leeks
1 finely sliced clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of sugar
5 peeled and pips removed medium red tomatoes
1 shake of nutmeg
3 shakes of white pepper

1 cup white or bechemel sauce – not thick
1 tub cream
1 box frozen or fresh hake (about 4- 5 pieces)
1 box frozen or fresh salmon (about 4 – 5 pieces)
1 box frozen or fresh haddock (about 4 – 5 pieces)
1 punnet peeled and deveined prawns (about 1 1/2 cups full)
1 punnet calamari rings (not crumbed and optional)
6 – 8 SOFT boiled peeled eggs
1 handfull of finely chopped dill
2 handfulls of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 x LARGE oven proof dish

To make the mash, boil the quartered potatoes until soft, add the butter, warm milk and salt and mash until a creamy consistancy, don’t make the mash too long in advance as it will become “stodgy” if it cools down too much before you pipe it onto the pie.

Cut a cross at the top end of each tomato and pour boiling water over to cover completely, let it rest for about 2 minutes, pour the water off and peel the tomatoes, the peels should slide off…. slice each tomato in 4 and spoon the pips out. It is important to de-pip the tomatoes as it will make the pie too liquid if not removed…

Add the olive oil, butter, garlic and leeks to a hot pan and fry until soft, don’t brown the leeks, add the peeled tomatoes and sugar and saute for about 4 minutes over a medium heat. Add one shake of nutmeg and three shakes of white pepper to the tomatoes.

Then add the tub of cream to the tomatoes and bubble for 2 minutes, add the cup of runny white sauce and mix well, this should give you quite a runny liquid that will be poured over the fish.

Arrange the raw fish in the oven dish (i’ve cut the fish into +/- 4cm x 4cm blocks and remove all skin if any, then add the prawns and calamari on top of the fish. Slice the SOFT boiled eggs in half and arrange evenly inbetween the fish. Add the dill and parsley. Pour the hot creamy tomato mixture over the fish….

Cover the fish with the warm mash, I’ve piped the mash with my “icing tube” but that is really not necessary as the liquid of the fish “flattened out” the mash into an even layer, so just spoon it on and even out….

We baked the fish pie for +/- 45 – 50 minutes on 180 degrees until golden brown…

I served the Creamy Fish Pie with a green salad made from, shredded lettuce, cucumber, feta, 2 x soft avo’s, shavings of parmasan and toasted pine nuts…. and drizzled over a red wine vinegar sweet syrup. There’s something about the smell of bubbling red wine vinegar that takes your breath away… I am a bit addicted to it…

For the Red Wine Vinegar salad dressing:
Bubble together half a cup of red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup of brown sugar for at least 10 minutes, let it cool.

It should form a syrupy sweet / sour yummy salad dressing…

And loooong after dinner, when everyone sits in front of the fire, and just before SOME of us wants to go to bed, I quickly made them hot chocolate….. for 6, bubble together 2 x 90g slabs of chopped DARK chocolate, one cinnamon stick, 150ml cream and 4 cups of milk…..

Time for some of us to go to bed now…..