Salmon and Pollock Seafood Pie

A strightfowrard oven based meal.  A tray of fish pieces intended for a fish pie: I used the salmon and the pollock for this. Cooked on a base of julienned purple onion, in a wheat and milk sauce, dressed in fines herbes and vegetable stock. 

The fish base was covered in mashed and textured potato, mixed with salted butter, and cooked for at least an hour at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven. Served with garden peas, cooked separately. 

As a Scot, I love fish food. It was a major part of our diet until recently. We've been favoured with ingredients and dishes from all over the world. I can live with all of it :-).

 

Salmon and Cod Potato Pie

The base of the pie was a thick vegetable stew (from the fridge) of sweet potato, potato, carrot, diced mushrooms, and spring onion, plus kamut grains, a little chopped red chilli, chopped garlic, and cardamom seed, fresh from three crushed pods.

The fish pieces were placed on top of the vegetable stew in a roasting dish, distributed evenly.

On top of that, a layer of potato mashed with a knob of butter was added (and a little salt and pepper), and textured with a fork.

The roasting tray was placed on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 190 deg C, uncovered. Depending on the depth of the roasting dish, the cooking time will be somewhere between 45 minutes and one hour (it will be properly cooked after 45 minutes, but it may take longer for the desired browning of the potato topping - judge by eye!).

Served with a little American or German mustard.

The fish pieces were sourced from Sainsbury's, who often make up inexpensive packs for making this kind of dish.

Breaded Pollock Fillets

Gorgeous Alaskan pollock fillets from Sainsbury's, baked in the oven.

I placed them in a roasting dish on some aluminium foil, then I spread small squares of slightly salted butter along the top of the fillets. Then I folded the foil over the top.

Placed in an oven preheated to 190 deg. C, for twenty minutes. The fillets did not stick at all to the foil, and I used a traditional wooden fish slice to get them out of the roasting dish without breaking.

Served with Gem potatoes in their skins, and some thinly sliced sweet-sour gherkins (soused in vinegar and dill). Dressed in freshly ground black pepper.

Seafood Pie (Red Salmon, Haddock and Smoked Pollock)

This pie was made with a selection of fish pieces found in Sainsbury's supermarket. The fish was first blanched in boiling water, and then poached for seven minutes under glass.

I made a white sauce with cornflour, milk and some Blue Stilton cheese (about 100g). Stirred until the cheese had entirely melted. Add the fish pieces to the sauce, along with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of drained garden peas, and remove from the heat.

Four large potatoes were boiled until soft, then mashed with a little butter and pepper. The oven was heated to 150deg C while the potatoes were cooking on the hob.

Add the fish sauce mix to an oven-proof baking dish, then spoon the mashed potato on top. Texture the surface of the mash with a fork, until it looks a little like a ploughed field.

Cook the pie in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. Check frequently that the potato topping is browning. The pie will be ready when the topping is a golden brown.

Fish Pie with Stilton Cheese Sauce

Modelled on a fish pie my mother sometimes makes. Though she generally dislikes cheese, so she wouldn't have made one like this :-). 

First I boiled eight medium sized potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes under glass (in salted water). I used three different kinds of fish in chunks - salmon, smoked Pollock, and Haddock. Enough to cover the base of a small roasting tray. The chunks were stir-fried in some sunflower oil at a medium heat under glass, 4-5 minutes each side, then were placed in the roasting tray. I made a sauce with some cornflour and water, and cut thin slices of about 150 grams of Blue Stilton cheese. Half of it went into the sauce, along with two handfuls of freshly podded peas.  

The boiled potatoes were drained, and placed in a large glass bowl, I mashed the potatoes, first with a masher, and once there was a mostly even mash, I used a fork. I also used the fork to introduce the rest of the Stilton cheese into the potato, along with a knob of butter. 

Once the cheese sauce was sufficiently thickened, I poured it over the cooked fish pieces in the roasting tray. Then I spooned the mashed potato on top. The surface of the potato was textured with a fork, in order to produce crispy ridges in the pie crust. 

The pie tray was placed in an oven preheated to 180 deg C for an hour, until the surface of the pie was golden brown. Voila! A delicious and nutritious fish pie, which can be adapted to whatever fish you have available. 

Fish Pie with Stilton Cheese Sauce

Oven Baked Pollock Fillet in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Pollock fillets wrapped in aluminium foil and roasted in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg. C for twenty minutes. The cheese sauce was made with milk, cornflour, a dash of Soave wine, and coloured Cheddar cheese. The  sauce is worth taking your time over. The milk and cornflower was brought to near boiling from room temperature over twenty minutes, with constant stirring. The Cheddar was thinly sliced, and added during the whole of that time.

The Pollock in its cheese sauce can be served with potatoes, or sliced vine tomatoes, grated Cheddar,  fresh lettuce and white pepper, as in this case.

Oven Baked Pollock Fillet in a Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Seafood Risotto

Brown basmati rice cooked with a little turmeric (takes half an hour). The seafood was blanched in boiled water for five minutes before being transferred to a stirfry pan, and cooked for three minutes at a high heat in sunflower oil. Drain the rice and add to the pan. Reduce heat, and cook for between three and five minutes, stirring more or less continuously. Chopped onion is optional, and should be stirfried for a few minutes before adding the seafood. 

What was in the seafood? Mussels, Surimi seafood pieces, Pollock, Hake, Hoki (fish), and Cold water Prawns, 

Seafood Risotto