As a Good Catholic Girl, it always has to be fish on Good Friday. Normally we would be spending Easter with my Aunt and Uncle and assorted cousins in their little village just outside Leeds. Drinking wine and eating my Aunt's simnel cake and my Uncle's seafood extravaganza, with shellfish fresh from Kirkgate Market.
As staying at home has become our new normal, at least for now, I turned again to the wonderful Nigella and made my riff on her Blakean fish pie, from her Easter chapter in Feast.
Choosing a favourite book of hers would be akin to choosing a favourite child, but this is a good one, with the chapters arranged to celebrate various different feasts throughout the year. It also contains a whole chapter on chocolate cakes, which would make a great #cookbookchallenge, but probably when I can leave the house more than once a day, so I can make sure I will actually still fit through the door...
I have to say, of all my challenges so far, this is the first one that really only paid a mere nod to the recipe (although my wife thinks I fail to follow any instructions, I have been quite disciplined so far...) In fact, although I did briefly skim the recipe, the whole making a stock to poach the fish and the bouquet garni and reducing down saffron-infused cream seemed rather a faff for Nigella. It was certainly too much faff for me.
So I (whisper it) used frozen fish pie mix for the first time, picked up on my weekly shop, and cooked the chunks of cod, smoked haddock and salmon from frozen, along with a bag of frozen prawns. To the fish I added a leek-infused bechamel sauce, and topped with saffron mash. Which gave it a pleasing hue inspired by the title. Although I hadn't made a fish pie before (scarred by the boiled egg-studded pies of my youth, it was excellent. And very easy.
Amy's Blakean Fish Pie (adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast)
1 kg floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large, even chunks
butter and seasoning to taste
Good pinch of saffron threads, soaked in a little warm milk
1 (400g) bag of frozen fish pie mix or equivalent chunks of fresh fish of your choice
1 (250g) bag of frozen prawns (medium, for preference)
2 leeks, cleaned and chopped into rings and cooked gently in butter until soft
50g butter
50g flour
500ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
1 tbsp mustard (dijon or wholegrain)
salt and pepper
Boil the potatoes until soft, mash with butter and seasoning to taste and stir in the saffron infused milk.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan on a medium heat, add the flour and stir to make a roux. Cook out for several minutes.
Slowly whisk in the milk, stirring continuously, until the sauce has thickened.
Add the mustard and cooked leeks, season and stir well. (Cover the sauce with cling film if not using straight away, to stop a skin forming).
Place fish pie mix and prawns in a dish (I used a le Creuset casserole dish).
Add bechamel sauce and stir well to combine.
Top with mashed potato, making sure there are no gaps. I like to fluff my mash with a fork to make wavy lines.
Cook in a pre-heated 180c oven for about 40 minutes, or until top is brown and the centre is hot and bubbling.
Eat with peas. Always peas. And maybe a glass of Picpoul.
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