
Fish pie with potato crust
Flavour salmon, cod and smoked haddock with fennel, anise and vermouth, and top with crispy nutmeg mash
For the potato crust
- 1kg Maris Piper potatocut into chunks
- good grind of nutmeg
- 175ml double cream
- 75g butterplus a little extra for the top
- 2 egg yolks
For the sauce
- knob of butter
- 2 shallotsfinely chopped
- ½ tsp fennel seedslightly crushed
- 1 star anise
- 300ml vermouth
- 300ml fish stockfresh if possible
- 300ml double cream
For the filling
- 200g skinless smoked haddockfillet, pin-boned and cut into 3cm pieces
- 200g skinless codfillet, pin-boned and cut into 3cm pieces
- 200g skinless salmon filletpin-boned and cut into 3cm pieces
- 140g frozen pea
- 4 eggshard-boiled and chopped
- small bunch parsleychopped
- small bunch dillchopped
- juice ½ lemon
Nutrition: per serving (6)
- kcal641
- fat46g
- saturates25g
- carbs13g
- sugars4g
- fibre3g
- protein31g
- salt1.2glow
Method
step 1
Boil the potatoes for 10-15 mins until tender. Drain and mash with the nutmeg, cream, butter and some seasoning. Leave to cool slightly, then stir in the egg yolks and chill until ready to use.
step 2
While the potatoes cook, make the sauce. Heat the butter in a large pan. Add the shallots, fennel seeds and star anise, and cook until the shallots are soft, about 5 mins. Add the vermouth, bubble and reduce until there is a syrupy glaze left – this will take 10-15 mins. Add the stock and continue bubbling until the liquid has reduced by half. Add cream and return to the boil for 2 mins, then strain and return to the pan.
step 3
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Add the fish pieces to the cream sauce and poach for 2 mins until just cooked. Fold through the peas, hard-boiled egg and herbs, season and add a little lemon juice. Portion the fish sauce into individual dishes or 1 large dish. Top with the mashed potato: either pipe on with a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle or simply spoon on top and rough up with a fork. Dot the top with a little extra butter, then bake for 15 mins for small dishes or 30 mins for a large one, until golden and bubbling.