Jamie Oliver’s fish pie

As you know I love my cook books…I read them like most people might sit down to a good novel. I can spend hours reading a good cook book and quite often I will read it again and again. Strangely though I hardly ever cook a recipe from any of them, if I do its only because I happen to have all of the ingredients at the time… For me, a good recipe book will give me the foundations for amazing meals that I can adapt to suit me or the people I am cooking for. They should give you inspiration, not have you heading out to supermarket buying a heap of ingredients that you probably would never use again. Make the recipe work for you as you know what you like to eat and what flavour combinations prefer.

This is what happened with my fish Pie… I first came across it in Jaime Oliver’s Ministry of Food cookbook and liked to idea of it. I wasn’t crazy about a couple of flavours that he had included so I simply swapped them for ingredients I preferred. 

Result ...this was probably one of the most delicious pies I have ever eaten…even if I do say so myself. I didn’t want it to end and ate every mouthful like it was the last meal I was ever going to eat.

Don’t be afraid to take a risk, if it doesn’t work out it then it’s not the end of the world… although 99% of the time I can guarantee that you will have created a masterpiece that came about by using the good foundations from a recipe found in one of your cookbooks!

Serves 2

2 large potatoes

20grams butter

¼ cup milk

400grams firm white fish cut into bite sized chunks

10 green king prawns

1 carrot, peeled and grated

1 zucchini grated

60grams good cheddar cheese grated

100grams creme fraiche

¼ cup chopped fresh chives

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Juice of half a lemon

Sea Salt and white/black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm chunks. Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes and cook for around 12 minutes, until soft (you can stick your knife into them to check) Add fish, prawns, grated carrot, zucchini, cheddar, chopped chives, parslry, lemon zest and creme fraiche to the oven proof dish you will be using to cook your pie. Squeeze over the juice from the zested lemon (no pips please!), and add a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix everything together really well.

By now your potatoes should be cooked, so drain them in a colander and return them to the pan. Add butter, milk and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mash until nice and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the fish and grated vegetable mixture. Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until cooked through, crispy and golden on top.

Serve with greens and good tomato sauce (trust me on this one!)