This is a creamy, comforting, hearty fish pie that my family loves! It’s chock-full of flaky fish and hard boiled eggs (lots of protein!), all wrapped in a creamy bechamel-type sauce (lots of calcium!), and topped with mashed potato that goes gorgeously crisp at the edges. I wish you could see how massive the portions are… they’re huge… and all for just 409cals per portion. With a side of peas, and a dollop of ketchup you have a huge meal for less than 600 calories.

You can prepare this in advance, and refrigerate or freeze it, then defrost and bake when you’re ready. We love it, hope you do too.

Recipe: Creamy Fish Pie

Serves 4 large portions at 409 calories per portion

Ingredients

To cook the fish:

• 600g any firm white fish, such as cod
• 520g fresh salmon fillet
• 500ml skimmed milk
• 5g butter
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 

For the white sauce:

• 3 tbsp cornflour 
• 10g butter
• 500ml semi skimmed milk
• (+ the 500ml of skimmed milk reserved after cooking the fish)
• Salt and pepper to taste (be generous)
• 1tsp dried oregano

To assemble the pie:

• 6 large eggs, hard boiled, shelled and roughly chopped into large chunks
• 850g potatoes, boiled and mashed when soft.

You will need a large, deep oven-safe dish (mine pictured here is 30cm x 23cm x 7cm).

Method 

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

• Place the fish into the oven dish in a single layer, and pour over the skimmed milk.
• Dot with the 5g of butter, and add salt and pepper.
• Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

• Meanwhile boil the potatoes until soft, drain them well and leave them in the hot saucepan to steam dry.
• Also hard boil 6 large eggs that you’ll use later. 
• After 30 minutes, lift the cooked fish out of the oven dish using a slotted spoon, and transfer it all to a large bowl, keeping it in fairly large chunks. Cover with cling film so it doesn’t dry out.
• Now save the milk you’ve cooked the fish in by pouring it out into a jug, set aside to cool. Wipe out the baking dish, as you’ll use it to bake your final pie.

• Make the white sauce by putting 3 tablespoons of cornflour into a non stick saucepan. 
• Slowly add the cooled skimmed milk that you cooked the fish in. Whisk well to work out any lumps that want to form, and add the rest of the milk.
• Once well blended, add most of the additional semi-skimmed milk, but retain about 150mls (this is so that you can add it at the end if your white sauce gets too thick).
• Add 10g of butter, plenty of salt and pepper, and a teaspoon of dried oregano to the pot, and heat gently whisking all the time.

• Be patient… keep it on a gentle heat, and keep whisking. The white sauce will slowly thicken. As it thickens, be more patient! Whisk continuously, because suddenly it’ll get really thick and could go lumpy. If it does, remove from the heat and use the extra milk you kept aside to smooth it out, whisking all the time.
• When your white sauce is thick enough (like a thick, creamy custard), pour it over the fish in your large bowl.
• Add the chopped eggs and gently mix through to combine and distribute evenly.
• Pour the filling into your baking dish.

• Mash the potatoes well, but don’t add any butter or milk; you don’t need them.
• Spoon the mash on top of the filling in a thin layer. Use a fork to ‘seal’ the edges and fill in any gaps. Then fork the surface to roughen it up a bit – this will give you more crispy bits once it’s baked.
• You can refrigerate or freeze the pie at this point.
• When ready to cook, bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 40minutes or until the potato topping us crisp and golden brown, and the sauce is starting to bubble up at the edges.

Serve with peas and ketchup or brown sauce.