Fish Pie

Having read my last few posts one thing that is obvious to me is how cold it is here at the moment. All that talk of warming stews eaten in front of the fire.

It's still very cold and now also very grey so it looks even colder so my fish pie is another of those dishes I'm afraid - hot tasty comfort food.

I love eating fish and shellfish. We have a fabulous fish restaurant - the Jolly Frog - just 3 miles from us. The last meal there was heaven - crevettes and langoustines in garlic butter, followed by roast cod and mussels in this tomatoey herby broth and finished with lemon vanilla panna cotta doused in grappa.

Whilst I love eating fish the one exception is when I have prepared it myself - I'm not particularly squeamish - I used to quite happily fish for mackerel and gut them on my grandfather's fishing boat - I just find that having prepared and cooked it I lose my appetite.

I can, however, cope with fillets of fish. This dish is so very easy to prepare but tastes wonderful!

I am suddenly reminded of a wonderful incident in the local supermarket when I went to the checkout with my undyed smoked haddock. The young lad behind the till suddenly looked very alarmed and said to me "Undyed - does that mean it's still alive?"

2 medium sized or 1 large fillet of undyed haddock

1 250g bag of large frozen prawns ( cooked or uncooked )

500ml milk

40g butter

40g plain flour

100g strong cheese

5 medium sized potatoes and butter and milk to mash

Peel the potatoes and cut into quarters. Put into a pan of cold water with a teaspon of salt. Bring water to boil and cook for 20-25 minutes. When soft, drain and mash to taste with butter, milk and season.

Make a cheese sauce - melt butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Add flour and stir around till all butter is absorbed. Cook for a minute.

Add the milk very gradually, stirring all the time until all the milk is incorporated and the sauce is thick. Cook for a couple of minutes then add grated cheese and seasoning.

Cut haddock into mouth sized cubes and arrange with the prawns in a shallow baking dish. Pour cheese sauce over, top with mashed potatoe, top with butter and put in a hot oven ( 220 degrees celsius or top oven of AGA ) for 25 minutes until brown on top.