GOLDEN FISH PIE
SAFFRON adds more than just depth of colour, it headily redeems the bland, cotton-woolly fish you buy in those plastic-wrapped polystyrene trays at the supermarket — useful when you can’t get to a fishmonger. SERVES 6 ● 1 carrot ● 125ml white wine ● 1 bouquet garni ● 1kg floury potatoes ● 125g unsalted butter ● 225g cod fillets ● 225g haddock cutlets ● 225g salmon fillets ● Approx 250ml single cream ● 4 scant tbsp flour, preferably Italian 00 ● Pinch mace ● 1 x 0.25g sachet powdered saffron ● 150g cooked, peeled king prawns ● Fresh nutmeg
1 Peel the carrot, halve it lengthways and then cut each half into 3 or 4 and put the pieces in a deep frying pan with 125ml water, the wine, a good pinch of salt and bouquet garni. Bring to the boil and then turn off the heat and let cool.
2 Cook the potatoes in salted water and mash with 80g of the butter. The best instrument for this is a potato ricer; it’s cheap and you don’t need to peel the potatoes, the skins stay behind as you push the potato through. Set aside until you’ve cooked the fish and sauce. Alternatively, if it suits s better, you can cook the fish and sauce first and set them aside, and do the potatoes after.
3 Put the white fish in the carroty water and wine, bring to simmering point and poach for about 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and add the salmon and poach for about 3 minutes. Add to this the white fish, strain the liquid (keeping the bouquet garni) into a measuring jug and make up to 450ml with cream.
4 Melt 45g butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour and mace. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes then, off the heat, stir in the cream mixture slowly, beating all the time to prevent lumps. When it’s all incorporated, put back on the heat and throw in the sodden bouquet garni. keep cooking and stirring until thickened — about 5 minutes — then add the contents of the sachet of saffron and cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes. Set aside for 10 minutes (or, if you’re doing this in advance, let it cool altogether).
5 Butter a 1.25-litre dish and put in the cooked fish and the prawns. Pour over the saffron sauce (take out the bouquet garni) and mix in. Cover with the mashed potato. Make sure the potato completely covers the pie dish so that no sauce can bubble up and spill over. Grate over some nutmeg and cook in an oven preheated to 190c/gas 5 for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how cold the pie was when it went in. eat with peas. You must.