Fish Pie with Prawns and Cheesy Leek Mash

I had been faintly entertaining the idea of making that classic British dish - fish pie - since I saw a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall program where he was 'teaching' some non-cookers how to cook by making what looked like a very complicated recipe! He was obviously copying Jamie's thing, but I think he missed the point.

Anyway, so Fish Pie. I have never made a fish pie and as a concept I'm not even that excited by it (I have never ordered it at a restaurant for example), but for some bizarre reason, I really wanted to make one. I decided Good Friday would be a fitting occasion, seeing as I have this inexplicable religious hangover for eating fish on Good Friday even though I'm not religious and then I go and blow it anyway by eating chicken and pork at Dotori. Oh well, surely the thought counts and it is a good excuse for making the fish pie.

After much internet trawling, I settled on the recipe for Fish Pie with Prawns and Cheesy Leek Mash topping. I guess you could call this a traditional recipe with a bit of a twist (the twist being a few more calories in the cheesy mash). The recipe was a bit of a challenge for my small kitchen - I think we used almost every dish we own and every saucepan twice!

But in the end, we had a lovely layer of cod, smoked haddock, prawns and boiled eggs, over which to pour the sauce made from the milk the fish had simmered in. This was all topped by the cheesy-leek mash (which on its own was delicious) and then grilled until brown.

I did actually like the fish pie, but it was very rich and I think I over-salted it a little. I served it with just some simple peas and they were necessary for cutting through the richness. All the fish had nice bite and using prawns that I cooked instead of pre-cooked prawns gave them better flavour and texture, I think. The eggs are an unusual (although apparently typical) addition - it was always a bit of a surprise when you bit into the egg - and the mash was superb as a topping. It's not the prettiest food in the world, but all in all, I enjoyed this British classic although I don't think I will make it too often . . . all those calories!