This is the staple fish pie recipe in our house. It almost always gets eaten up & the ingredients can be varied to suit. This works well with salmon fillets too – my kids seem to love looking out for the “pink fish”. I’ve even made a adult friendly half of the pie with added spinach & pepper. I have to make sure I don’t give that to the kids by mistake!

Ingredients:
0.2kg white fish (fresh or frozen) – approx 1 packet
0.2kg smoked fish (fresh or frozen) – approx 1 packet
400ml milk
1 knob of butter
8 medium potatoes (approx 900g)
2 eggs
handful of frozen prawns (optional)
2 tsps plain flour
Another knob of butter
1 tsp of Dijon mustard (optional)
Squeeze of lemon juice
Grated cheese

Instructions:

1. Place fish fillets in large pan & pour over milk. Add butter and simmer slowly for 10 mins (for fresh fish. Frozen will take about 15mins)
2. While thats simmering, peel and cut potatoes into smallish cubes (so they’ll cook quickly) and place in a pan of salted water, with the eggs. Simmer for about 15 mins, or until potates are tender. Drain potatoes and set eggs in cold water.
3. Carefully remove fish from poaching milk and reserve this liquid for the sauce. Place fillets in a large baking dish, remove skin and flake the fish. (I find its easier to do it by hand – you can find & remove big bones this way)
4. Peel & chop the eggs into pieces (kids like helping with this one!) and scatter on top of flaked fish.
5. Add a handful of frozen prawns if liked
6. To make the sauce, combine the flour & another knob or two of butter in a small bowl to make a roux paste. Warm the poaching milk again and whisk this roux paste into it. The sauce should eventually thicken. Taste it and season if required. Add the Dijon mustard & lemon juice if using and stir throroughly.
7. Pour sauce over the prepared fish, eggs & prawns. Note: you may not need all the sauce! It depends on the size of your dish and how “wet” you like your fish pies!
8. Mash the potato with a little butter so its quite crumbly and dry. Sprinkle evenly over the fish filling. If you’re feeling artistic then create a design with a fork on top of the potato. But the most important thing is that there are lots of peaks that can go nice & brown in the oven.
9. Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the pie
10. Place the pie  dish on a baking tray – otherwise it will bubble over onto the oven floor. And place in an oven approx 180 deg C until the  top is crispy (about 20 mins)
11. Of course if you’re not using prawns everything else is already cooked and pretty much hot so you can just put it until a medium grill for 10 mins to crisp the potato
12. Serve with green beans & broccoli

Serves 6 adults
Could be frozen once  its constructed but before its grilled