I like to think of this as the seafood version of shepherd’s pie. The traditional recipe uses smoked haddock, but this is hard to find in the U.S., and besides, I like the freedom to use whatever fish looks good the day I buy it.
Fish Pie with or without cheese
This recipe is made without cheese in the béchamel/white sauce. Simply because this is the way mum made it. You can add any of your favorite grated cheese while making the sauce. I have always known this as a dish that originated in England, but, I have also read that Fish Pie originated in Scotland. If you know the history, please feel free to leave a comment below. There are many other countries that have their variations too. I call it the easiest British fish pie because you use frozen vegetables that cook in one pan with the fish, then all you have to do is thicken the sauce add mash and bake. I like to pipe the mashed potato topping to make a pretty presentation. You can also achieve a similar effect by spreading the mash and creating a design with a fork. Nutmeg Whenever I make any dairy-based sauce, I always add a little nutmeg. You can’t tell it’s in there, it just gives a wonderful flavor and slight sweetness to the sauce. The first step to the Easiest British Fish Pie is to make the fish stock. This involves cooking the fish and onions in the milk along with bay leaves and this is what will make the sauce. Cooking the fish in the milk heightens the seafood flavor of the sauce.
Butter There is a lot of butter in this recipe (sorry, no diet food here). If you know my recipes, I always use unsalted butter so I can control where and how much salt I add. If I were to use salted butter in all the steps in this recipe, it could turn out very salty and this I could not control. More British Recipes:
British Fish & ChipsBangers and MashTraditional Shepherd’s Pie
