I cannot believe I’ve never shared this recipe on here. I originally shared the recipe over on the Discover Ireland blog in November 2012, but here’s your chance to enjoy it too! It is delicious.
No two ways about it, we love fish in this house!
I suppose that is not really that surprising especially when you think Alfie has spent most of his life at sea as a commercial diver… so fish is important to him.
When we moved to the Midlands, our list of priorities did not include sourcing fresh fish!
However, it wasn’t long before we realised it is virtually impossible to source fresh fish here. Yes, you can buy a limited selection in supermarkets – but I don’t believe that fish is quite fresh.
Our way to satisfy our longing for fresh fish was to purchase a little in-car travel fridge and everytime we go near the coast to stock up! Our favourite destination for fresh fish is Ali’s in Barna. Barna is so beautiful this is not really a hardship!
Combine this view with the nicest Fish Shop ever! If you are in Barna you must stop by and say hi to Connie who works there…. she really looks after her customers!
We love any type of fish and a special treat of some tuna or swordfish for the bbq.
A mid-week favourite dish here is Fish Pie which I’ve adapted from the Essential Seafood Book
The original recipe calls for white fish fillets, like ling or hake, but I use a seafood chowder mix which can contain pieces of smoked fish, prawns, salmon, white fish, or sometimes just opt for a mix of whatever fish is on ‘special’ it doesn’t matter, it is all lovely.
Be warned you use quite a few saucepans! However, there is a silver-lining…. all the wash up is done before you sit down to dinner!! 🙂 And it truly is worth the effort involved.
As I said I’ve changed it a little bit from the original recipe! We are so lucky here in North Tipperary – while we can’t get fresh fish handily – we do have access to the freshest raw milk – we swap with our neighbours – we give them eggs they give us milk and we are lucky enough to have Mossfield Organic Cheese within driving distance, so rather than use cheddar I use Mossfield Gouda…. delicious!
I now grow dill especially to have for this dish.
Fish Pie (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 500 g potatoes
- 60 ml milk or cream
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 60 g butter
- 60 g Mossfield Cheese
- 800 g Chowder Mix
- 375 ml Milk
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tablesp plain flour
- 2 tablesp lemon juice
- 2 teasp lemon rind
- 1 tablesp chopped fresh dill
- Salt and Pepper
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 deg C/350 deg F/Gas 4. Cook potatoes and mash well with the milk or cream, egg, half the butter and half the cheese.
Put the fish in a shallow pan and cover with milk. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2 – 3 minutes. Drain the fish, reserving the milk and set aside.
Melt the remaining butter in a pan and cook onion and garlic over medium heat for 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually add in the reserved milk. Return to heat and stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, dill and salt and pepper to taste.
Put fish in 1.5 litre ovenproof dish, and gently mix in the sauce. Spoon the mashed potato on top and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 35 minutes until golden.
Serve with some fresh peas or beans from the garden.
Enjoy!
A Year In Redwood 