Comfort Food Friday

It's been terrible weather all week here in Dundee, and in such situations I find that there's nothing like a hearty, winter meal to cheer me up.  This fish pie is perfect comfort food for a rainy day, and it's pretty quick and easy to make as well! 

  

 For the fish pie, you will need:

• 1 fillet of fish per person (I tried to find something other than cod but Tesco failed me yet again and I ended up with a pack of 'fish pie mix' with cod, haddock and salmon - sorry Jamie Oliver!)
• 3 potatoes per person
• 1 leek
• 1 onion
• 2 ounces plain flour
• 2 ounces butter
• 1 pint of milk
• Dill and/or parsley

1. Peel the potatoes and chop them into small chunks.  Boil for about 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, chop the onion and the white part of the leek and cook in some sunflower oil over a low heat, stirring occasionally.

 3. Chop the fish into small pieces and arrange in the pie dish.  I normally use prawns in fish pie but I forgot to buy them this time, but you can use any fish or seafood that you like in this dish.

4. Next, make the white sauce.  I apologise for the old-fashioned measurements, I got the recipe for this sauce from some ancient recipe book.  If you can't be bothered measuring, it's basically a spoonful of butter, two spoonfuls of flour and enough milk to make it a nice looking consistency.  Firstly, mix the butter and flour together into a paste as shown:

5. Then, add the milk a little at a time, stirring constantly, until the sauce is smooth and slightly bubbling.  Don't forget about the potatoes while you're doing this, if they're cooked then drain them and set them aside until the sauce is done.

 6. Add the leek and onion to the pie dish and pour the sauce on top, then sprinkle with the herbs.  Mash the potatoes with a little bit of milk and butter and spread on top of the sauce.  Grate some cheese over the top if you like, I did mine half and half as Tetley will only eat cheese in food if he can't see it, much like his attitude to vegetables.

7. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for about half an hour.

Here is the finished pie, it's not the most aesthetically pleasing dish but it tastes so lovely!  It's basically a meal in itself, but serve it with some green vegetables or carrots if you want some bonus vitamins.  The white sauce is handy for lots of meals, throw in a handful of grated cheese and serve with macaroni for a super quick and easy macaroni cheese dish.