Thai Green Curry Fish Pie

 I haven't posted a savoury recipe in a while, but this is too good not to share with you.

I make a mean fish pie. Fact. Over the last couple of years I've made dozens of versions, and every time I think 'this is it, this is the best fish pie ever'. But I can't help but keep tweaking and trying different ideas. Last time I added red curry paste to the roux, and was blown away by the outcome. We didn't have any red curry paste this time round, so I tried green instead, and I genuinely think that this one is my favourite.

There are quite a few steps for this pie, but it's TOTALLY worth it, I promise! I often make it as a mid-week dinner, after work, so it doesn't take all that long really, but you could also make it ahead and freeze it. I used a combination of sea bream and rainbow trout in this pie, but any fish works great - try smoked haddock and salmon too!

Ingredients:

4 eggs

4 fish fillets - use a combination of fishes for different flavours

500ml whole milk

1 red onion, cut into wedges
1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

50g salted butter

50g plain flour

2 tbsp Thai green curry paste

2 tbsp light soy sauce

Ground pepper

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

2 large floury white potatoes, peeled and diced

Knob of butter

Splash of milk

2 tbsp rolled oats

Start by pre-heating your oven to 180c ready for the finished pie.

Place the eggs in a small saucepan of boiling water, and boil for 8 minutes until hard. Remove from the pan and set to one side to cool for a couple of minutes. Once cool, peel and chop into quarters and put to one side.

While the eggs are cooking, lay the fish in a large pan and cover with the milk. Add the onion wedges and poach the fish until cooked through. If the fish fillets are quite thin and flat, it will take about 7-8 minutes, but if the fillets are thicker, it may take up to 15. Just keep checking - it will flake apart easily when it's cooked through.

Once the fish is cooked, drain the milk from the pan and set it to one side - you'll need to the milk to make the sauce in a minute. If the fish has skin on it, peel it off and discard at this point. Once any skin is removed, roughly break the fish into bite sized chunks and put the pan to one side with the eggs.

Add the potatoes to a pan of water and boil for 10 minutes until soft enough to mash. Once soft, drain the pan before adding the knob of butter and splash of milk to the potatoes and roughly mash.

While the potatoes are boiling, you can make the sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and tip in the flour, curry paste and soy sauce. Mix to a paste and cook for a couple of minutes to release the flavours.
Add the poaching milk to the pan in a steady trickle, all the time whisking with a balloon whisk. Keep mixing until the sauce is smooth and cook for a further 5 minutes over a low heat.

Now to assemble the pie!
You should have these elements: chopped boiled eggs, poached fish and onions, mashed potatoes, your sauce, the chopped chilli and garlic, and the rolled oats. 

First, layer the fish and eggs evenly over the bottom of your prepared dish. Next, scatter over the chilli and garlic, before placing the chopped eggs on top of this. Pour your sauce all over the top, as evenly as you can, and gently tap/shuffle the dish so that the sauce falls between all the gaps.
Carefully spoon the mashed potato on top - use a fork to carefully spread it up to the edges to create a seal.
Lastly, scatter the oats on top and you're done. You can freeze it at this point (if your dish is freezer safe), or leave it in the fridge over night if you are making it ahead - just makes sure it's well wrapped.

Cook in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, until the mashed potato is crispy on top and the sauce is starting to bubble out around the edges. Serve with greens and crusty bread. YUM!