PIG FISH PIE

I have nightmares about fish pie from the days when the staff-meal chefs cleaned all sorts of C-grade, vile, stinking, slime-ridden, heathen, swamp-dwelling fish, and passed these off as sustenance to an overworked team of vitamin D–deficient fluorescent-tanned chefs. So I had to make fish pie real again — and pork neck brings a little something special to the party.

SERVES 4–6; MAKES ONE 22 CM (8½ INCH) PIE

FILLING

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) firm white fish fillets, cut into 4 cm (1½ inch) cubes

60 g (2¼ oz) sea salt

olive oil, for pan-frying

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

½ a leek, white part only, roughly chopped

500 g (1 lb 2 oz) pork neck

1 bay leaf

5 black peppercorns

1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) milk, approximately

60 g (2¼ oz) butter

60 g (2¼ oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

Toss the fish and salt in a glass bowl. Cover and place in the fridge while braising the pork.

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan and lightly sauté the onion, celery and leek over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Transfer the vegies to a bowl.

Put the pork neck in the saucepan and brown it all over. Return the vegies to the pan, along with the bay leaf, peppercorns and sufficient milk to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover with a round of baking paper and cook until the pork is tender — normally around 3 hours. Remove the pork neck from the milk, reserving the milk in the pan, and roughly chop it.

Remove the fish from the fridge; rinse and pat dry. Add it to the pan of milk, along with the chopped pork. Combine the butter and flour to make a paste, then add to the pan.

Bring the pie mixture to the boil very briefly to cook the flour. Pour into a 22 cm (8½ inch) baking dish, then cover and allow to chill. (The mixture can be made up to a day ahead.)

POTATO MASH

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) floury potatoes, such as kennebec, scrubbed but not peeled

250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup) thin (pouring) cream

100 g (3½ oz) butter, plus a little extra melted butter, for brushing

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºC/Gas 4).

Spread the potatoes on a baking tray and bake for about 1 hour, or until cooked through.

While the potatoes are still hot, remove the skins. Reserve two potatoes, then mash the rest with the cream and butter. Season to taste.

TO ASSEMBLE

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºC/Gas 4). Spread the mash over the cold pie filling. Slice the two reserved potatoes as thinly as possible and arrange on top of the mash, in overlapping concentric circles. Brush with melted butter.

Bake for 25–30 minutes, or until the potatoes are brown and the pie filling begins to bubble around the edges.