Rick’s fish pie

Choose whichever fish and seafood you can get for this pie – the most suitable are cod, monkfish, hake, pollock, snapper crab, lobster, peeled prawns or scallops. Rick

SERVES 6 PREP 20 mins COOK 1 hr 10 mins MORE EFFORT

For the velouté

600ml fish stock

300ml whole milk

50g butter

50g flour

2 bay leaves

1 clove, crushed pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the filling

2 onions, finely chopped

70g butter

30g parmesan, grated

50ml double cream

½ lemon, juiced

50g plain flour

500g mixed seafood: aim for ¾ fish fillet and ¼ shellfish or crustaceans, such as shelled prawns, lobster or crab

2 tbsp vegetable oil

100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 tsp French mustard

1 tsp truffle oil

For the mash

1kg potatoes, cut into chunks 100ml whole milk

50g butter

For the crust

50g Japanese panko breadcrumbs or fresh breadcrumbs dried out for 10 mins in a hot oven

30g melted butter buttered peas, to serve 1 First make the velouté. Pour the stock and milk into a pan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, bay leaves, clove and nutmeg and cook for about 2 mins without letting it colour, stirring constantly. When it starts to smell nutty, add a third of the stock and milk mixture, and keep stirring until it thickens and is completely smooth. Add another third of the stock and milk and stir as before, then add the final third and stir again. When smooth, leave to simmer gently for about half an hour. If you’re not using the velouté immediately, transfer it to a lidded container, leave to cool, then put in the fridge. Can be made up to two days ahead.

2 Meanwhile, make the filling. Gently fry the onion in 60g of the butter in a saucepan for 10 mins. Pour the velouté through a sieve into the onions and add the parmesan, cream and lemon juice, and a little salt, to taste, if needed.

3 Tip the flour onto a plate. Cut the fish fillet into bite-sized pieces, 3-4cm long. Season with a little salt and turn over in the flour to coat evenly. Melt the oil and the rest of the butter in a frying pan and fry the fish pieces for 2-3 mins over a medium heat. Remove the fish and put it in your pie dish. Fry the mushrooms in the same pan, adding a little salt. Stir in the mustard and add the mushrooms to the pie dish. Now add the shellfish or crustaceans to the pie dish. They can be raw or cooked, but if you have large raw scallops or prawns, slice them in half. Drizzle with truffle oil. Pour over the velouté.

4 Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4. Boil the potatoes for 15 mins or until soft. Drain, season and mash with the milk and butter. Top the pie with the mash, working inwards from the edge of the dish and pushing the mash right up to the edges to seal. To make the crust, mix the breadcrumbs with the melted butter, and spread over the top of the mash. Bake for 30 mins until golden and bubbling. Leave to sit for 10 mins, then serve with a large bowl of buttered peas.

PER SERVING 695 kcals • fat 42g • saturates 23g • carbs 51g • sugars 8g • fibre 5g • protein 26g • salt 1.6g