CREAMY FISH PIE

There's nothing quite like a comforting CREAMY FISH PIE.  
Why load the pie with creme fraiche or cream, when you can halve the calories with this fabulous recipe. The creaminess is still there, you lose nothing in flavour, and the sauce can be used for other recipes - such as chicken pie etc. 

Depending on your appetite, this huge fish pie will serve between four and six people.
If you divide between four, then each portion works out at around 660 calories.
Divide between SIX people and each portion will be around 440 calories.
We loved everything about this dish - and you must give it a try! We chose a different kind of white fish than your normal COD. But you can choose whatever fish you fancy for this dish. Fish is extremely expensive, and you might want to shop for bits and pieces of fish when they are on offer - placing them in the freezer until you are ready. Alternatively, the supermarket offers bags of frozen fish - which seems relatively cheap in comparison to fresh fish. Here's our fabulous recipe:

CREAMY FISH PIE
Serves 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS

500g mixed fish
 (we chose this salmon, Gurnard* and undyed smoked haddock mix)

a handful of cooked prawns if you like
2 hard boiled eggs - quartered
50g spinach - wilted
a few chopped spring onions or frozen peas for colour
chopped parsley

30g plain flour

30g butter

350 mls milk (half whole/ half semi-skimmed)

1 tsp dijon mustard

50g cheese (we used a mix of cheddar, gruyere and parmesan)
one egg yolk

bay leaf (if you have one)
salt/pepper
1 kg fluffy potatoes - eg King Edward
10g butter
milk 

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Melt the butter in a pan and add the flour.  Stir these two together for 1-2 mins then REMOVE from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Slowly add COLD milk.  Season with salt/pepper.  Add mustard and bay leaf and simmer the mixture for around 5 mins until the sauce has thickened.  

Once thickened, remove the bay leaf then add the cheese and give it a good stir.  If the sauce seems too thick, add a little more milk.  It will thicken up more as it cools, but remember it will be heated up again later, so don't overdo the extra milk.

Add the egg yolk to the sauce.

In an oven proof dish, scatter the chopped pieces of fish, prawns, hard boiled egg and spring onions. 

Top with a sprinkle of parsley, season with salt and pepper.

Scatter the wilted spinach over the fish. Squeeze out any excess moisture. We used some frozen spinach which worked very well with the pie.

Pour the sauce over the fish mixture and leave to cool for ten minutes or so, when it will be easier to top with the mashed potato.

Boil the potatoes in salted water for around 20 minutes, then mash with the butter and enough milk to make a smooth mash.

Cook in a hot oven at 180ºC for around 25-30 minutes.
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*NOTE: Gurnard is a cheaper white fish (although slightly more pink) than cod or haddock. It has a similar texture and is a good sustainable alternative. The Gurnard was indistinguishable from most other white fish. When eating the fish pie - it just tasted like a nice white fish. The Gurnard might not be very nice to look at, but once filleted, and sitting in your fish pie, you'll hardly notice.

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Do you know how many calories you can eat each day?

Here's a link to our very first blog post about our weight loss journey, which we began in January 2011. We started this blog as a way of recording what we ate while losing weight. The blog is a food diary, and contains lots of recipes, tips and ideas about losing weight.

You'll find our WEIGHT LOSS PLAN here. 

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