Weekend Cooking – The Perfect Fish Pie

This recipe for the perfect fish pie comes from the brilliant Alan White, Executive Chef at GB1 at The Grand, Brighton.

N.B. When buying fish, try to use a reputable local fishmongers, insisting on using only today’s catch, which was landed over night. You then can look for healthy pink/red gills, bright eyes, firm flesh and of course the chance to smell your fish – this should be almost odourless apart from the natural sea water and salty ocean fragrance.Firm flesh, large flaked and soft textures are great for the perfect fish pie. Monkfish, Pollock, Huss, Scallops, Mussels and Haddock are ideal.

Pie filling – ingredients

1kg mixed fish cut in to dice

5 scallops cut in half

1 leek (white only) washed and finely shredded

1ltr fish stock

500ml white wine

500ml double cream

10gm parsley finely chopped

5gm dill finely chopped

½ lemon Zest and juice

Salt and pepper

10 Tiger prawns (top)

Fish stock – Ingredients

2kg fish bones

2 litres of water

½ litre white wine

1 cloves garlic

4 peppercorns

¼ bulb fennel

¼ leek

½ large onion

1 sticks celery

Parsley stalks

½ lemon

Mashed Potato – Ingredients

6 large potatoes (Maris Piper) peeled and roughly cut

50gm Butter

50ml Cream

2 egg yolks

Salt and pepper

100gm Sussex Mayflower cheese (grated)

Fish Stock – Method

• Place all ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil
• Then simmer for 20 minutes remove any residue that forms on the top
• Remove from the heat and pass through a fine chinois
• Chill

Mashed potato – Method

• Peel and roughly cut the potatoes steam/boil until cooked
• Reduce the cream and butter together until thickened
• Mash the potatoes and add the cream reduction
• Fold in the grated cheese
• Season with salt and add the egg yolks (this will enriches the potatoes and help them to colour when grilling)

Fish pie – Method

• Put the fish stock in a pan bring to the boil and season add the fish one at a time starting with your firmest flesh first, finishing with the softest last, poach until cooked, remove and drain fish reserving cooking stock.
• In a separate pan add the white wine, fish stock and cream, bring to the boil and reduce by a 1/3rd , keep warm
• Add the lemon zest, juice and chopped parsley and dill season to taste
• Steam the leeks until tender
• In a bowl add the fish, leeks and enough sauce to bind all the ingredients, separate into your serving bowls, add an extra tablespoon of sauce to each pot, reserve the remaining sauce to accompany your dish
• Pipe on the mashed potatoes
• Bake until golden
• Top with a Tiger prawn
• Serve with extra sauce.

To find about more about Alan White at the Grand Hotel, Brighton, visit devere-hotels.co.uk