I think I may be slightly addicted to Instagram – I especially love a bit of food porn! Occasionally I’ll even try a recipe if there’s one available. A few weeks ago I was tempted by Jamie’s curried fish pie. It was probably a cold and miserable day and I was suckered by the comfort food vibe of this recipe. So glad I was!
I have to admit that I’m a long time fan of Jamie Oliver’s brand of cheeky Essex Boy charm and down-to-earth cooking. His recipes are delicious and they all work, so what’s not to love. I have loads of his books and always watch him on TV. I admire his sincere campaign to bring healthy, achievable cooking to everyone and restore good health to the world’s children.
This particular recipe was a YouTube clip of Jamie and his little boy, Buddy, cooking the fish pie together. It was very cute, but I had to watch it a million times as I cooked alongside them, so I’ve made it a bit easier by putting it down in writing for you.
The resulting meal was, as Jamie promised, the ultimate fragrant and delicious comfort food. My family couldn’t shovel it down fast enough! The first time I made it I didn’t have fenugreek seeds in the house, so I missed them out. It was still super yum, but I included them the next time and it was off the scale of yumminess – another dimension of flavour, so try to get them if you can.
I didn’t use all the same fish as Jamie, and I didn’t include the chilli either as my kids aren’t impressed with overly spicy food. I’ve put down the recipe exactly as I did it, but do have a look at the very cute YouTube clip in the link to the original.
Ingredients
- For the Temper:
- 4 cloves garlic finely sliced
- 4-5 tablespoons of groundnut oil
- 2 handfuls curry leaves (I used dried)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds
- For the Sauce:
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp heaped turmeric
- 1 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- Thumb sized piece ginger, finely chopped
- 1 x 400ml tin coconut milk
- 200g fresh baby spinach
- Zest and juice 1/2 lemon
- For the Pie:
- 4 tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped (I used 8 cherry tomatoes)
- 1 piece of salmon fillet (boneless)
- 1 piece of blue-eye cod fillet (boneless)
- 6 raw prawns, de-shelled and roughly chopped
- 2 hard boiled eggs, cut into quarters
- 1.2 kg potatoes - I used Dutch Cream (Jamie used Maris Piper), boiled until soft
- Butter and milk for mashing
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- First make the temper.
- Heat groundnut oil in a wok or deep sided frying pan.
- Add curry leaves, mustard seeds and sliced garlic and fry for 4-5 minutes, being careful not to burn.
- Put half the temper aside to garnish finished pie.
- To the remaining temper in the pan add the finely chopped onions, turmeric, fenugreek seeds and ginger.
- Cook over gentle heat until softened.
- Add coconut milk, spinach, lemon zest and juice to pan and allow to simmer gently and thicken up.
- Pour curry sauce into high-sided baking dish and leave to cool slightly.
- Season tomatoes and evenly place on top of the curry sauce.
- Cut the fish into bite-sized chunks and arrange in the dish.
- Sprinkle the chopped prawns over the fish.
- Arrange the pieces of hard boiled egg to complete the base.
- Mash the potatoes with a little butter and milk until completely smooth and creamy.
- Pile the mashed potato on top of the other ingredients in the dish and ensure everything is covered.
- I used a fork to score all over the top for extra crispiness - Jamie did some fancy piping thing.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 40 minutes until golden and bubbling.
- Sprinkle the remaining temper over the top to finish the pie.
- Seriously yum!
Hi. I notice that you never listed the chillies in the ingredients or in the cooking. Was this deliberate to make a milder sauce?
Yes, my family isn’t keen on very spicy food.
Tried this tonight. Everyone loved it. The coconut milk makes it so much lighter than cream. No leftovers though. My Kids eat like they have a Black Hole inside them. Thanks.
I love this video & I’m dying to make this with less fish, just as you did, apparently.
however, there’s no indication about the servings: I’m French, living in France, so fish pie is not a traditional dish here, so I have no clue about how much this will yield.
Could you please help me?
Thanks in advance
Hi Line,
It’s a while ago since I made this, but there are four hungry people in my family, and from memory there were leftovers. I’d say it would serve four to six people, depending on how hungry you all were! Thanks for reminding me to make this again. The weather is chilly here in Melbourne now, and this fish pie would be perfect.
Definitely trying this one and ditto re the photography – beautiful
Well worth trying Ally!
Stunning photography.
Thanks Paula. First attempt at studio lighting and manual mode on the camera. Quite pleased!