Smoky Fish Pie & Strawberry and Coconut Ice-cream

Smoky fish pie with cauliflower and bacon
From: Delicious.Daily pg. 127
Strawberry and coconut ice-cream
From: Delicious.Daily pg. 231

Hi everyone it’s seafood time!

Fish pie – what could be yummier? This particular pie has no pastry but instead delicious, creamy mash. I think the secret here is to use good quality fish fillets, otherwise you will end up with a very leathery filling in your fish pie. The addition of the smoked trout really gave it a kick I must say. You could also use some scotch haddock or even smoked salmon for variation. Rather than whipping up a bechamel sauce the delicious chefs have us tossing the fish in sour cream. The result is lighter & healthier (so they tell us) but my preference will always be the fattening and yet oh so tasty bechamel sauce.

Having said all that it was still really yum and different with the flavours of the bacon, leek, cauliflower and thyme combined well with the smokey trout. I served this with salad greens drizzled with the roasted lemon dressing from the same book on page 117. This dressing is labour intensive (I include the recipe) and absolutely not worth the effort. No-one liked it. The overall mark was dragged down because of the dressing so the main only received 7/10.

And now for the dessert. Oh! dear! I was so excited about making this as the recipe looked so simple. When I combined the cooked and cooled strawberries with the coconut yoghurt the MAV and I had a little taste and just flipped. It was to die for………… AND THEN……… we froze it. Bong, bong!! It . was . awful . Such a let down. I mean seriously how wrong can you go just simply freezing. I covered it as per the instructions and even left it out a little bit before serving but it was like eating a hard slushy. Blah. Here is the solution though – once you have blended everything together don’t freeze it. Serve this beautiful combination of strawberries and coconut yoghurt drizzled over fresh fruit or make fruit kebabs to dip into individual pots of the yoghurt. Viola!! No freezing. (However, I have included the original recipe as I always do) . This only received 2/10.

Smoky fish pie with cauliflower and bacon

A simple fish pie that is lighter and healthier

1 kg sebago potatoes (peeled & cut into 3cm pieces)
50 g unsalted butter (chopped)
1 1/3 c milk
1 tbs olive oil
2 leeks (white part only) (sliced thinly)
2 bacon rashers (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
250 g cauliflower (finely chopped)
1/4 c thyme leaves
100 g smoked trout (flaked)
1 kg firm white fish fillets (ling or blue-eye) (cut into 6cm cubes)
250 g sour cream
chopped dill for serving

Preheat oven to 200°. Place potato in a large ovenproof pan and cover with cold salted water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes or until very tender . Drain and transfer to a bowl with butter and 2/3 cup milk. Mash until smooth. Season and set aside.
Add oil and leek to pan and return to medium/low heat. Cook, stirring, for 6-8 mins or until softened. Add bacon and cook for 5 minutes or until golden. Stir in garlic, cauliflower, thyme and trout. Season.
Place flour and fish in a bowl. Season and toss to coat. Add to cauliflower mixture . Stir in sour cream and reaming 2/3 cup milk, Top mixture with mash and smooth the surface with back of a spoon, swirling to create ridges. Transfer to the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until potato is golden. Set aside for 10 mins to rest, then season and sprinkle with dill. Serve with salad leaves and roasted lemon dressing.

Roasted Lemon Dressing

Makes about 1 cup

3 lemons (halved and seeds removed)
150 ml olive oil
1 garlic clove (crushed)

Preheat oven to 220°C. Arrange lemon halves, cut-side down, on a baking tray and drizzle with 50ml oil. Season. Roast for 35 minutes or until soft and juicy. Cool slightly, then using a lemon squeezer, squeeze out juice. Discard peel or roughly chop and add to dressing (depending how lemony you like it). Whisk in garlic and remaining 100ml oil, and season. Transfer to a jar and chill for up to 1 week. Serve with salad greens or roasted broccoli, or spoon over cooked prawns or fish.

Strawberry and coconut ice-cream

Begin recipe a day ahead if using frozen

250 g strawberries (hulled)
1 c runny honey
1 kg coconut yoghurt

To make the strawberry puree, place strawberries in a blender with 70 ml honey and 1/4 cup water and whiz until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a saucepan and place over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until reduced by half. Transfer to a bowl and chill.
Meanwhile, combine yoghurt and remaining 3/4 cup honey in a bowl and transfer to a 1.2L container. Drizzle with chilled strawberry puree and use a spoon to swirl into yoghurt mixture. Freeze overnight or until firm.

Smoky Fish Pie & Strawberry and Coconut Ice-cream