This British comfort food is creamy, cheesy and incredibly filling - and is an absolute breeze to make! Depending on your choice of seafood used, it can be as luxe or as homely as desired. Stretch your dollar and use frozen seafood, so you can save the good stuff for steams and grills.
This recipe serves 4-6 people. Prep time 30 minutes, ready in 30 minutes.
INGREDIENTS
For the filling
1 slice salmon
1 cup prawns, de-shelled
1 cup mussels, de-shelled
1 cup squid, sliced
1 tablespoon garlic & ginger paste
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 chili padi, chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped
For the sauce
2 tablespoon Campbell's mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
3 eggs, hard boiled
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Half a lemon, juiced
Salt & pepper to taste
For the cheddar mashed potatoes
6 large potatoes
1-2 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated
Salt & pepper to taste
Spring onion, chopped for garnish
DIRECTIONS
For the mashed potatoes
1. In a large pot, add in potatoes and bring to a boil. Add a spoonful of salt in the water to season the potatoes.
2. When the potatoes are almost cooked, heat up milk and butter in a separate saucepan. Stir continuously to avoid burning.
3. Drain the potatoes and place in a large mixing bowl, stir in the milk mixture slowly while mashing the potatoes.
4. Add in cheese and continue mashing until consistency is smooth and creamy.
5. Stir in salt & pepper and coriander. Taste along the way to make sure the flavors are to your liking. Set aside till ready to assemble the pie.
6. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees.
For the filling
1. Marinade the seafood in the garlic and ginger paste, add fish sauce, turmeric, chili powder, chili padi and coriander. Cover and set aside in the fridge till ready to use. This step eliminates the fishy smell and taste from the seafood.
2. In a dutch oven about 5 inches deep, heat up the oil and butter over medium heat, and stir-fry the garlic and onions until golden brown.
3. Gently drop in the seafood and stir-fry for 2 minutes or till the seafood is half-cooked. The liquid from the seafood would have created a sauce at this point.
4. Add in the flour, and stir in the milk and mushroom sauce to create a creamy sauce. Add salt & pepper to taste.
5. Turn off the heat. Mash the hard boiled eggs and add it into the filling with the lemon juice. Stir until completely combined.
Assemble!
1. Top the fish filling with the mashed potatoes and create indents with a spoon that will crispen in the oven.
2. Top off with cheddar cheese and pop into the oven for 10-15 minutes till the top is golden brown and crispy.
3. Garnish with spring onion and serve warm. Enjoy!
ALY'S COOKING TIPS
1. The consistency of the sauce is completely up to you. Some like their pie fillings a littles less sauce-y. Add or remove as much milk as you desire.
2. This creamy sauce is great for pasta too - so throw in some macaroni into your leftover sauce and enjoy an incredibly luxe mac and cheese!
3. Go crazy with the seafood for your filling, just make sure to add equal parts of each seafood to create an interesting taste and texture.
4. Baking win a dutch oven is perfect for pies and stews because you can brown the ingredients on the stove and continue cooking in the oven, all in one pan! - but if you don't have one, just use a non-stick baking pan.
5. Marinating the seafood before cooking is an optional, but KEY step in making sure there is no fishy smell or taste from the seafood. This is especially important when cooking with frozen seafood.
6. Speaking of which, save your fresh seafood for another dish. This dish works completely fine with frozen seafood that's been lying in your fridge! That's because the seafood will be cooking and soaking in that beautiful creamy sauce, and does not need to be the star of the dish.