Tart London: how to make smoked fish pie

Jemima Jones and Lucy Carr-Ellison heat up the oven for a hearty and moreish smoked fish pie 
Lucy Carr-Ellison22 September 2016

We came up with this week’s recipe during a recent shoot for US Vogue. We were on location in Sussex, in a wonderful house with an amazingly big kitchen — ovens, grills, a walk-in fridge, the works. We so often have to cook outdoors on shoots that it’s a treat for us to have an oven. So when we do, we want to use it as much as possible. Plus, the crew were out on location all day so we decided to make something a bit heartier than just the usual salads.

We prepped everything in the kitchen, then loaded up the car and drove up a bumpy track to the top of a quarry with the most amazing views to set up lunch. We were thrilled to find the fish pie went down a treat, with almost everyone coming back for seconds.

For the best smoked fish, we suggest going to your local fishmonger. That way, you’ll get fish that will have been suspended in a smokehouse over smouldering wood shavings and the flavour is just amazing. The majority of supermarket smoked fish has been made using the mechanical method which is generated through the use of smoke concentrates.

Our favourite fishmongers are La Petite Poissonnerie in Primrose Hill or Clarke & Parker on Muswell Hill Broadway (their honey-smoked salmon is beyond delicious). Feel free to put your own spin on the fish mix — for example, some people like to add prawns (we don’t, as they always seem to go rubbery). We also prefer using new potatoes rather than a thick layer of mash — an idea that came from Jane Lovett, a friend of ours (and author of Make It Easy). They go beautifully with the sage and cheese.

Smoked fish pie

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

500g baby new potatoes

Large knob of butter

3 leeks, sliced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 bay leaves

2 fennel, sliced

250ml white wine

2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

100g baby spinach

50g tarragon leaves, roughly chopped

25g parsley, chopped

1 lemon — zest and juice

250ml crème fraîche

50g toasted breadcrumbs

100g grated gruyère

25g sage, finely chopped

25g chives, finely chopped

Glug of olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

1.5kg smoked haddock, kippers and ‘hot smoked’ salmon, skin and bones removed (don’t worry about the kipper bones too much), and broken into chunks

Equipment

1 oven-proof dish

Method

Heat the oven to 180C.

Cut the potatoes in half. Bring a pot of water to the boil, add the potatoes and lightly boil for about 15 minutes until cooked through. Strain, then put back in the pan and leave to the side.

Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks, garlic, bay leaves and fennel and sauté for a few minutes until they start to caramelise. Add the white wine and reduce for a minute or so.

Add the cayenne pepper, mustard, spinach, tarragon, parsley and lemon, and stir to combine. When the spinach starts to wilt, add the crème fraîche and take off the heat.

Shake the pan with the potatoes in it, so they break up slightly. Add the breadcrumbs, cheese, sage, chives, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Mix the fish into the crème fraîche mixture, carefully so as not to break it up too much, then place it all in the oven dish.

Spoon the potato mixture on top and place in the oven for a good 15–20 minutes. Check that it is cooked through to the centre. Serve with a fresh, crunchy salad.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @EsMagOfficial

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT