Fisherman's Pie

Not a very good looking fine dining dish this is, but it is an absolutely delicious grub if you are a seafood fan.  This typical British food is very filling, very creamy and has all the strong flavours going through it. You either love it or hate it but you can't ignore it. :)

Ingredients:

• 200 gm ready cut fish pie mix from any super store (which includes cut pink salmon, cod & smoked haddock) or buy a fillet each of salmon, cod & smoked haddock separately from the fish monger. 
• 5-6 pieces of prawns (optional)
• 1 egg (hard boiled)
• 3 large potatoes (I used 1 &1/2 jacket potatoes)
• 2 cups milk + 4 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp plain flour (sifted)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 50 gm butter + 2 tbsp butter
• grated cheddar cheese (optional)
• salt to season

  Method:

1. Heat 2 cups of milk in a saucepan & put the bay leaf in it. Also add the cut fish pieces along with the prawns and poach in milk for 4-5 minutes. 
2. Remove the fish pieces from the milk and keep aside. Discard the bay leaf. The milk is now infused with strong fish juices, ready to be used afterwards.
3. Boil the potatoes in some salted water until a fork can easily pierce through in. Remove the skins and keep aside.
4. Heat 50 gm of butter in a saucepan & add the sifted flour to it. Simmer the heat. Now add the reserved fish infused milk to the floury butter and mix well continuously until no lumps remain. Throw in some salt and pepper for seasoning. Cook the sauce until it is slightly thickened. This is the Bechamel sauce. Please click here for a detailed recipe of the Bechamel sauce. Keep the sauce aside.
5. Heat 4 tbsp of milk in a saucepan. Pour the hot milk over the boiled potatoes with 2 tbsp of butter and some salt to it. Mash the potatoes well until smooth. Click here for a detailed recipe of the Mashed Potatoes. 
6. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
7. Take an oval pie dish and all you need to do is layer up the things what you have prepared. First put the poached fish pieces as the base layer in the pie dish.  
8. Then slice the hard boiled egg and layer up on top of the fish pieces. 
9. Now pour the thick Bechamel sauce over the fish and eggs until it is covered. 
10. At this stage, layer up with some grated cheddar cheese if you want. 
11. Now take a spoon and cover the pie dish with the mashed potato prepared earlier. 
12. Place the pie dish into the oven and cook the pie until the Bechamel sauce under the pie bubbles away and the top layer turns brown. It will take approximately 20 minutes to look like the image below. 
13. Serve hot.