Salmon and Sweet Potato Fish Pie
This is classic comfort food and a really useful family recipe as you can make ahead or batch cook a few to freeze some. This is also the first fish pie I made my little girl and so memorable for me. The topping is slightly sweet from the sweet potatoes which I find kids to really enjoy.
Of course you can switch this up and use maris piper potatoes for a straight forwrad mashed potato and change the fish to white one your kids prefer. Or, sometimes I like to mix two types of fish: using half salmon and half white fish.
Serves 4-6
ingredients ~
2 large sweet potatoes (300g approx)
400g sustainably caught organic salmon, skin removed/ checked for bones/ cut into large dice
chopped herbs (optional), 1 tablespoon parsley and 1 tablespoon fresh dill
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
300ml organic whole milk, at room temperature
Peel the sweet potato and boil until tender, 15-20mins, then mash with a little butter set aside and some freshly ground black pepper
Melt butter in a pot and add flour: cook out for 1-2 mins, stirring until it forms a paste (or roux). Slowly add the room temperature milk (to prevent lumps) and whisk to incorporate the milk with the roux. Stir continuously and continue to add the milk, until you have used it all up. You should have a lovely, glossy and smooth white sauce. Take the white sauce off the heat add the herbs and fish pieces and gently combine using a spatula.
Preheat oven to 180C fan. Pour the fish/ sauce mix into an oven proof dish (es) and top with the cooled sweet potato mash. You can either set aside the fish pies to cool and reheat later, or to serve immediately cook in the oven for 20-30 mins until cooked through. Cool, serve and enjoy!
suitable for freezing
You can make up the fish pies in a freezer proof/ oven proof dish, cover them and freeze for up to 3 months. I use ramekins (as pictured) for child size portions. De-frost the fish pies in the fridge overnight and then cook in the oven, when you are ready to eat them. Deforsting them first will ensure your dish doesn’t crack from an extreme change in temperature.