ANNA’S SOLUTIONS

42

Scalable fish pie

Some recipes are easier to scale up than others – steaks or sausages and mash, for example – especially those that you can mentally divide between plates as you’re preparing them. But dishes that are served up at the table are trickier, as it can be difficult to visualise the portions to cater for multiple guests. Fish pie is one of those recipes I can’t do by eye – I need the base recipe to ensure the perfect saucy consistency and get the ratio of filling to mash correct. Usually, I end up using a pen, paper and calculator to work out what three times ¾ tsp of an ingredient is, which can be very confusing. That’s why I came up with this recipe – it’s weighed out in simple measurements, so if you are serving more than two, it’s a doddle to double or triple. Grilling the pie ensures you won’t overcook the fish, no matter how big it ends up being. I like the fish to be flaky and the mash, slightly crisp on top. The cheese isn’t strictly necessary, but I love the extra savouriness it brings, as it balances the sweet prawns and mash. You could also make individual fish pies and cook them from chilled under a medium grill, adding 5-10 mins to the cooking time. This means any leftover pies can be cooked from fresh, or frozen for another time. Fish pie can be hard to reheat without overcooking the fish, but this takes out all the guesswork.

It’s a great Friday night fish pie recipe, adaptable to every situation.