Creamy Fish and Mushroom Pie

Submitted by bluemoon downunder

"A creamy pastry-free fish pie. The fish is first poached with the mushrooms, then topped with mashed potato and baked in the oven. I found this recipe on an English website and I'm posting it here for the 2005 Zaar World Tour. If you cannot find the specialty mushrooms specified in the ingredients, use field mushrooms or your favourite variety of mushrooms."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 225 g assorted mushrooms, such as oyster, horse, shiitake, trimmed and quartered
• 675 g cod or 675 g haddock fillets, skinned and diced
• 600 ml milk, low-fat is fine, boiling

• For the Topping

• 900 g floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 25 g unsalted butter
• 150 ml milk, low-fat is fine
• salt, to taste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• grated nutmeg, to taste

• For the Sauce

• 50 g unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1⁄2 celery rib, chopped
• 50 g plain flour
• 10 ml lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 and butter an ovenproof dish, scatter the mushrooms in the bottom, add the fish and season with salt and pepper, to taste; pour the boiling milk over the top, cover and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
2. While the mushrooms and fish are cooking, cover the potatoes with cold water; add a good pinch of salt and boil for 20 minutes; drain and mash with the butter and milk, and season to taste.
3. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fish and mushrooms to a 1.5 litre (11/2 quart American; 1.5 litre Canadian) baking dish. Pour the poaching liquid into a jug and set aside.
4. To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and celery and sauté until soft but not browned; stir in the flour, then remove the pan from the heat; slowly add the reserved liquid to the pan, stirring until it has been absorbed; then return the pan to the heat, stir and simmer to until the sauce thickens; add the lemon juice and parsley, season to taste, then add the sauce to the baking dish, using the sauce to cover the fish and the mushrooms.
5. Top with the mashed potato and place the baking dish in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown.

Reviews

[duonyte]

I used oyster, baby bella and regular button mushrooms - this was so delicious. However, next time I won't top it with the mashed potatoes. I just did not find that appealing. I'd serve it over the potatoes, instead. My milk had turned, so I used evaporated milk, which added creaminess to the final dish. I also omitted the celery, as I never seem to have any, but used some celery flakes, and added some red bell pepper for color, which worked out quite well.

 

[tiffykat]

My husband is British and grew up eating fish pie and he loved this one! Also I just used 1 small filt of cod for our 2 servings, also threw in 8 half-cooked shrimp and 6 scallops! Was all amazing and went really well with roasted asparagus.

 

[El Bee]

This was great--although I didn't make it as a pie. I used portabellow mushrooms, as that was what I had. I put those in the casserole dish, and placed whole cod filets on top. I followed the directions for the sauce, put everything back in the same dish, but didn't add the potatoes (I did cook it for an additional 30 minutes as the directions state) It made a fabulous main dish with carrots and rice.