Recipe Tip: Fish Pie

Top Recipe by Falstaff Editorial Team. All ingredients and tips for getting it right. Andrew McConnell, chef and owner of the Builders Arms Hotel in Melbourne, Australia, has shared his Signature Fish Pie recipe with us.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 onions, finely sliced
• 2 clove(s) garlic, finely sliced
• 1 large head of fennel, cored and finely sliced
• 5 prawn heads (the prawns themselves go into the filiing)
• 180 ml white wine
• 300 g peeled potatoes, sliced
• 625 ml chicken stock
• 185 ml double cream
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 300 g skinned ocean trout fillets, cut into large pieces
• 6 raw large tiger prawns, peeled and halved (heads go into the sauce ingredients)
• 950 g skinned flathead or rock ling fillet, cut into large pieces
• 12 large sorrel leaves, torn
• 6 tablespoon chopped dill
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoon chopped capers
• fish pie sauce (recipe above)
• puff pastry, enough to cover your pie forms
• 1 egg, beaten

Steps

1. In a large, heavy-based pan, gently cook the onions, garlic and fennel in olive oil until soft.
2. Add the prawn heads to the saucepan and cook until they turn pink.
3. Raise the heat, deglaze the pan with the white wine and simmer the wine until it is almost totally reduced.
4. Add the potatoes and chicken stock and simmer gently until the potatoes are soft and the stock is reduced by two-thirds.
5. Add the cream and bring the mixture to the boil.
6. Remove the prawn heads before pureeing the sauce in a blender until smooth.
7. Strain the sauce and season to taste with salt and a little pepper.
8. Preheat oven to 190ºC.
9. First, cut shapes out of the puff pastry to top the pies with. You can use one of the pie dishes as a template. Just be sure to cut the pastry about one centimetre wider, all around, than the edge of the bowl.
10. Divide the fish, seafood, herbs, zest and capers between six deep pie dishes and spoon about 200 ml of the fish pie sauce into each bowl. Give it a little stir to distribute the sauce around the fish.
11. Dampen the edges of the bowls with a little water and place a disc of pastry over the top. Press the pastry lightly onto the rim of the bowl and brush with a little beaten egg. Pierce a couple of holes in the top of the pie to let the steam escape.
12. Bake for about 20 minutes until cooked through and golden.