Jono & Jules do food & wine

Haddock Pie

We are mad about fish pie and this one is particularly good. Yet another excuse to never through away our old food magazines!

Wine Suggestion: you need a fresh, vibrant white with a medium to full body; try to avoid heavily oaked and super-rich wines though. A good choice would be Chenin Blanc and the choice here is getting better each day. We’ve tried well made but simple ones from both the Loire and South Africa to good effect as well as some more complex ones like Adi Badenhorst’s Secateurs from Swartland and some Savennieres too.

Haddock Pie – serves 6

• 1 small onion, thickly sliced
• 2 cloves
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 600ml creamy milk
• 300ml double cream
• 450g haddock fillet with skin
• 200g undyed smoked haddock fillet
• 4 eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk
• 100g cooked peeled prawns
• 100g butter
• 40g plain flour
• 5tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley
• pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• 1.25kg floury potatoes, such as Maris Pipers, peeled and cut into chunks

Stud a couple of the onion slices with the cloves and put into a large pan with the bay leaf, 450ml of the milk, the cream, haddock and smoked haddock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Lift out the fish and strain the cooking liquor into a jug.

Wait for the fish to cool and meanwhile hard boil the whole eggs for 8 minutes, then drain, cover with cold water and leave to cool.

When the fish has cooled a bit, break it into  large flakes, discarding the skin and any bones. Sprinkle the flakes of fish over the base of a shallow 1.7 litre ovenproof dish. Scatter the prawns over the top. Shell the eggs and cut into chunky slices. Arrange these over the fish and prawns.

Melt 50g of the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually add the reserved fish cooking liquor. Return to the heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Take the sauce off the heat, stir in the parsley and season with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/Fan 180C.

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water for 12-15 minutes, or until tender. Drain, mash well and beat in the egg yolk and remaining butter. Season with salt and white pepper and beat in enough of the remaining milk to make a smooth mash that’s easy to spread.

Spoon the mashed potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 40-45 minutes until piping hot and golden brown.

(Original recipe by Rick Stein in BBC Good Food Magazine, June 2001.)