Another of my simple credit crunch beauties (Fish)

Member Name: Ally-doo-lally

Product:	Fish
Date:	08/03/09 (89 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to make and my sister actually asked if she could lick her plate...gross!

Disadvantages: I'm not allowed to experiment with too many different types of fish...

Okay I must reinstate the fact that I am not a very accurate cook (see lasagne recipe!), I really do make it up as I go along. I also love to add secret ingredients (nothing too scary though.) As a result of this my cooking is often dire...but I do get the occasional breakthrough in my experimental kitchen!

So anyway, here is another one of my breakthroughs.

My sister and her boyfriend were coming over for a meal and I wanted to make something both simple and cheap that we would all enjoy. Again I made it up - much more fun that way. I used just that bagged frozen white fish (usually cod) that you can get really cheaply if you buy supermarkets own. The reason I only used this (I would of loved to add some prawns or mussels) was not because I am cheap - although this is a very cheap version of the dish- but because my boyfriend will only eat plain white fish as he doesn't much like fish in general. However adding different kinds of fish would definately improve the recipe I may even try a bit of bacon next time! - an idea given to me by my housemate.


So here goes...


The ingredients I used were as follows ~

for the filling~


Frozen white fish (or fresh if you prefer)


You could add fried onions but in my eyes (no onion chopping pun intended!) this takes away from its simplicity to make

Parsley (I used loads of the dried stuff but again, people who arent as lazy as I am will use the fresh stuff which will probably taste a lot stronger so you won't need so much).

Salt

Pepper

For the white sauce~

An egg (This was the 'secret' ingredient - I thought it would give it extra creaminess and knew that a lot of fish sauces such as hollandaise used eggs)

This is again just my bog standard white sauce which I use for everything -see my lasange recipe! Of course I usually change it to suit the recipe (hence the egg!). It's quite simple to make and works very well.

White flour - Around half a cup

Margarine or butter - big chunk of marge

Milk - Roughly a pint, but you'll just need to look for what the right consistency should be.

Topping~

2-3 large potatoes (or 4-5 small) for the mash

loads of cheese (for the topping and a bit within the mash)

salt and pepper

A splash of milk

Equipment~

A oven dish to precook the fish
A wooden spoon - for stirring the white sauce.
A cup - for measuring
A Pyrex dish - for the finished product
A cheese grater
And....ummmm, I must of forgotten something...
An oven....



The Method ~


Start by putting four pieces of the fish in the oven to precook and the potatoes on the boil (I don't always peel them but it's down to personal choice) Then while this cook begin the white sauce as it can always be left to stand a while if ready early.


White sauce ~

Begin with a roix - this is the same as I used in my lasagne recipe but I will explain it again for the purpose of this recipe. A roix is basically melted butter with white flour added until (after mixing) it forms a sort of doughy lump. Make this over continuous heat before adding the milk bit by bit, a splash at a time - mix after every bit of milk is added. Keep watching over this or it will quickly thicken and burn. Keep adding the milk until it is still quite a thick sauce.

After this is made add in loads of parsley and crack in the egg and keep mixing for a while.


When the potatoes are soft enough (test by sticking a knife in one) make the mashed potato - putting in the milk, butter, a sprinkling of cheese and salt and pepper.

By this time the fish should be cooked enough - 20 to 25 minutes, take this out of the oven and break it into smaller bits in the pyrex dish using a fork. Pour over the parsley infused white sauce and top with mash.

cover the top in grated cheese and cook in the oven at about 200 celsius for 20 minutes. Everything is already cooked by this point but it will just allow the cheese to melt and the flavours to melge together (technical term)

I served it with some curly Kale but any veg will do perhaps sweetcorn?


Thanks for listening xxx

Summary: Easy fish pie