This is a favourite comfort food. It may seem a real faff to cook, but I promise, it’s worth the effort. Is anything more mouth-watering than homemade fish pie?
4 eggs (optional)
300g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
50g Lucy Bee coconut oil
200ml milk
2 bay leaves
500g assorted fish, such as cod, haddock and salmon (including un-dyed smoked, which adds a lovely flavour)
100g raw prawns, peeled and deveined
40g gluten-free flour
2 tsp curry powder or ½ tsp ground turmeric (optional)
Bunch of parsley, leaves chopped finely
Himalayan salt and ground black pepper
SERVES 4–6
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
Place the eggs, if using, in a saucepan with cold water just covering them, then bring to the boil, turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Shell and finely chop.
Meanwhile, put the sweet potatoes in a steamer and steam for 30 minutes or until soft. Mash with 10g of the coconut oil and salt and pepper to taste.
While the potatoes are cooking, warm the milk in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the bay leaves and, working in batches of similar sized pieces, the fish and prawns. Cover and cook for 6 minutes for fillets and 4 minutes for prawns, until cooked. Remove to a dish using a slotted spoon.
When cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones from the fish, break up any fillets into smaller pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Strain the cooking liquid into a measuring jug and top up with milk if necessary to give 500ml. Add the chopped egg, if using.
Melt the remaining coconut oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the flour and 500ml cooking liquid and cook, stirring continuously with a whisk, for 8 minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken. Continue to stir for a further 2 minutes. Season to taste, add the curry powder or turmeric, if using, and the parsley and stir to mix. Stir the sauce gently into the fish and pour the mixture into an ovenproof dish.
Spread the sweet potato mash over the fish. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes. Serve with crushed garlic peas.