I’m calling this dish posh fish pie. Why? Gone are the days when you need to cook all the fish together in a pie dish; the fish overcooks and the colours fade, so I’ve given it a 21st century makeover. Cooking each element of the pie separately and perfectly assembling at the last minute.

Ingredients | Serves 6

For the filling

• 300ml fish sauce
• 400g pollack fillet
• 400g salmon fillet
• 1 fillet natural undyed smoked haddock
• 100ml whole milk
• olive oil

For the topping

• 150g panko breadcrumbs
• 150g grated Lincolnshire Poacher cheese
• 8 Maris Piper potatoes
• 50g unsalted butter
• 70ml double cream
• Salt and pepper

For the garnish

½ bunch dill

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This dish requires no real planning in advance except for sourcing the ingredients. Go to your local fishmonger and get them to fillet, skin and pin bone the pollack and salmon. For the smoked haddock, get a natural undyed fillet which I think are far better than the yellow dyed fillets. Keep the skin on the fillet but get the pin bones removed (you can do this yourself by running your fingers along the flesh and when you feel the bones, removing them with fish tweezers). Cut the salmon into about twelve pieces, do exactly the same with the pollack and this will give you about two pieces of each fish per portion.

Tip the milk into a pan and add the smoked haddock fillet, bring the milk up to a simmer and simmer for 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the fish in the milk.

For the topping, peel and dice the potatoes, place in a pan and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt and boil until tender. Once cooked strain in a colander. In another pan heat the cream and butter, add the potatoes and mash. Once mashed, really beat them with a wooden spoon to mix everything together, season with salt and pepper and keep warm. I like to place my mashed potato in a piping bag, it will keep warm for a good 15 minutes and it’s great for presentation when piping the mash on to the plate.

Take the panko breadcrumbs and toast them gently under a grill until golden brown. Tip them into a bowl and allow to cool, then add the grated cheese and mix. I use panko breadcrumbs because they are very crispy and give a good texture to the dish and if you don’t have Lincolnshire Poacher you can always substitute with grated Parmesan cheese.

For the sauce follow the steps for the fish sauce recipe in the basics section, take your fish sauce out the fridge and bring to a gentle simmer in a pan.

To cook the pollack and salmon take a large frying pan and heat some olive oil over a high heat. Season the fish with sea salt and pepper then add the pieces of pollack and salmon to the pan and cook for 3 minutes until golden. Turn the pieces over and cook for a further minute. Once cooked, turn off the heat.

To serve

Place two pieces of salmon and two pieces of pollack into each bowl, take the smoked haddock out of the milk and flake the meat evenly into each bowl. Spoon the fish sauce over the fish. If the fish sauce is too thick then thin it down slightly with some of the smoked haddock poaching milk. Next, pipe on the mashed potato then sprinkle over the crunchy cheese and breadcrumb mix and add a few sprigs of dill. I think once you try this version you’ll never go back.

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