Make these fish pies with fennel in individual dishes so they’re easy to remove from the freezer and heat up when needed.
Ingredients
- 75g butter
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 25g plain flour
- 300ml fish stock
- 3 tbsp crème fraîche
- 450g haddock, skinned and cut into 2.5cm pieces
- 300g smoked haddock fillet, skinned and cut into 2.5cm pieces
- 250g medium, raw, peeled prawns
- 1 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
- 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh
- flatleaf parsley
- Small bunch of fresh chives, snipped
- 1.25kg floury potatoes, such as maris piper, cubed
- 2 tbsp milk
- 50g Parmesan or Grana Padano
Method
- 1. Heat 25g of the butter in a medium pan until melted and foaming. Add the onion, fennel and garlic and cook for 5-6 minutes, until beginning to soften. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, until it begins to thicken. Gradually pour in the fish stock, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and stir in the crème fraîche.
- 2. Season, then stir in the haddock, prawns, capers and herbs. Set aside.
- 3. Put the potatoes in a large pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 15-20 minutes, until tender. Drain well and return to the pan with the remaining butter, milk, seasoning and half the cheese. Mash well until smooth.
- 4. Spoon the filling into 6 x 350ml ovenproof dishes. Top with the potato and the remaining cheese.
- 5. Cool, then freeze (see tip) or preheat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/ gas 6 and bake the pies for 35-40 minutes, until the topping is golden and the filling is cooked.
Nutritional info
Per serving: 477kcals, 17.7g fat (10.8g saturated), 40.5g protein, 42.1g carbs, 4.2g sugar, 2g salt
Chef's tip
Freeze at the start of step 5. Defrost completely and continue with the recipe.
Wine Recommendation
The soft, vanilla flavour of oaky Chardonnay always works well with smoked fish – try an Australian Chardonnay-Semillon blend.