Smoked haddock pie

Try this hearty seafood pie for supper

For this creamy, cheesy smoked Haddock pie, I slow poached the haddock in milk, and used the smoked infused milk to make a long, thick cheese sauce. Everyone gave a big thumbs up.

Smoked haddock pie

Sandra van de Rheede

• 500g smoked Haddock

• 3 cups (750 ml) milk

• a sprig of parsley

• 1 bay leaf

• A glug of olive oil

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 punnet sliced mushrooms

• 200 g (2 cups) baby spinach

• salt, pepper and garlic salt, to taste

• 400 g roll puff pastry

CHEESE SAUCE

• 60 g (4 tbsp) butter

• 2 tbsp (30 ml) flour

• a good chunk of cheddar cheese

• pinch of garlic salt

• white pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Slow poach the haddock in the milk, parsley and bay leaf.

2. Leave to cool, strain and reserve the milk. Flake the haddock .

3. In a pan with the olive oil, sauté the onion, leeks and garlic. Add a punnet of sliced mushrooms. Simmer till cooked. Add the spinach and let it wilt down. Season with salt, pepper and bit of garlic salt.

4. Put mixture together with the flaked haddock in an ovenproof dish.

For the cheese sauce:

1. Make a roux with he butter and flour. Add the reserved milk, in batches. Add the cheese. The sauce should be thick and creamy. Season with a pinch of garlic salt and white pepper. Pour over the fish mixture.

1. Let it cool down completely.

2. Cover with rolled out puff pastry. Draw a fish with a knife on the pastry and use leftover pastry bits to cut out circles for the “scales”.

3. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for 25 to 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden and puffed up.