Salmon Recipe - Luxury Fish Pie

Ingredients

• 12oz/350g Fresh Salmon fillet, skinned

• 4 fillets smoked mackerel, skinned and flaked

• 4oz/125g prawns

• 4oz/125g peas

• 4oz/125g button mushrooms, halved

• 2 hard boiled eggs, quartered

• 12oz/350g packet bought puff pastry

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• ¾ pint/450ml milk

• 1oz/25g butter

• 2 tabsp/50g plain flour

• 2 tabsp/30ml dry sherry (optional)

• ¼ pint/150ml double cream

• salt & pepper

• 1 bay leaf

• 2 tabsp chopped flat leaf parsley

• 1 beaten egg to glaze

• 1.4 litre/2½ pint pie dish

Method

Heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Put the salmon in an ovenproof dish with the milk, bay leaf and onion, cover with foil. Poach in the oven for 20 minutes. Alternatively replace the foil with cling film, pierce and microwave for 3 - 4 minutes or until the salmon turns pale pink.
Take the salmon out of the milk and flake into large pieces. Keep the milk.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the mushrooms, add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the flavoured milk, stirring all the time. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and add the peas, prawns, cream, parsley and sherry. Stir gently, add the salmon and hard boiled eggs and season to taste.

Roll out the pastry. When it’s 2”/5cm wider than the pie dish, cut a 1”/2.5cm pastry strip and fix it to the dampened rim of the pie dish. Brush this strip with water and cover with the puff pastry lid. Seal the edges by pressing the tines of a fork all around the rim. Decorate by using the pastry trimmings to make fish shapes or long strips of pastry twisted across the top of the pastry lid. Glaze with the beaten egg, cut a couple of holes in the top to let the steam out and cook for 30 - 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Serves 6

Serve the salmon recipe with some French green beans or broccoli.