Straight from the sea: Irish Fish Pie recipe
In a lunchtime hunger pang assault, our minds drifted to food. What would me most like to munch right now. Homemade Irish Fish Pie topped the list. We had to find a recipe.
Thankfully, award-winning food blogger Margaret O’Farrell was kind enough to oblige.
Super blogger Margaret O’Farrell
Fish… there’s no two ways about it, we love fish in this house.
Of course, that’s not really so surprising considering that my partner, Alfie has spent most of his life at sea as a commercial diver, so fish is important to him.
When we moved to our home perched on a hilltop in North Tipperary, with magnificent views right down the valley to Knockshegowna and the Devil’s Bit 40 miles away, our list of priorities did not include sourcing fresh fish.
Soon enough, the catch of the day made its way up our list and a trip to the supermarket counter just wasn’t enough. We wanted fresh, taken that day, still slick with a coating of Atlantic sea.
Our way to satisfy our longing for fresh fish was to purchase an in-car little travel fridge and every time we go near the coast, we’d stock up. Our favourite destination for fresh fish is Ali’s in Barna. I must admit, aside from seeking out the finest fish at Ali’s, I had an ulterior motive for choosing Barna: it is absolutely beautiful.
This was the view across Galway Bay from Barna last week – why would you not want to go there?
Combine views like that with the nicest fish shop ever and we weren’t left with much choice. Should you find yourself in Barna, you must stop by and say ‘Hi’ to Connie who works there. There’s a lady who looks after her customers. Be sure to tell her Margaret sent you.
Ali’s fabulous fish shop in Barna, County Galway
Dinner time
So, what happens to that delicious fresh fish that brings us all the way to Ireland’s west coast? Fish pie.
Fish pie is quite the midweek favourite, and I’ve adapted my recipe from the Essential Seafood Book.
The original recipe calls for white fish fillets, like ling or hake, but I use a seafood chowder mix which can contain pieces of smoked fish, prawns, salmon, white fish. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, it’s all lovely.
Be warned – you use quite a few saucepans! However, there is a silver-lining: all the wash up is done before you sit down to dinner. And trust me, it truly is worth the effort.
While we can’t get fresh fish easily here, we do have access to the freshest raw milk. How? We swap with our neighbours – we give them eggs they give us milk. Also, we are lucky enough to have Mossfield Organic Cheese within driving distance, so rather than use cheddar (which will work completely fine if you don’t have an incredible cheese producer locally) I use Mossfield Gouda…. delicious.
The recipe has become so popular in the house here that I now grow dill especially for this dish.
Margaret’s Fabulous Fish Pie from Ali’s of Barna
Margaret’s mouth-watering Fish Pie. With regards to Ali’s fish shop and Mossfield Organic Cheese
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Eating time: 30-60 seconds
Ingredients
- 500 g/ 17.5oz potatoes
- 60 ml/ 1/4 cup milk or cream
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 60 g/ 20z butter
- 60 g/ 2oz Mossfield organic cheese
- 800 g/ 28oz chowder mix (a mix of whatever fish you fancy in the pie. This can include haddock, salmon, cod, prawns, mussels etc)
- 375 ml/ 1 and 3/4 cups milk
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp lemon rind
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
- salt and pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 180 °C/350 °F/Gas Mark 4. Cook potatoes and mash well with the milk or cream, egg, half of the butter and half of the cheese.
Put the fish in a shallow pan and cover with milk. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2 – 3 minutes. Drain the fish, reserving the milk and set aside.
Melt the remaining butter in a pan and cook onion and garlic over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and gradually add in the reserved milk.
Return to heat and stir constantly until the sauce boils and thickens. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind, dill and salt and pepper to taste.
Put fish in 1.5 litre ovenproof dish, and gently mix in the sauce. Spoon the mashed potato on top and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 35 minutes until golden.
Serve with some fresh peas or beans from the garden.
Enjoy!
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. I made it with ingredients found here in the US and obtained a delicious result.
Would love to try this. However, what kind of chowder mix do you use and where is it in the method?
Sounds delicious but can you convert to American measurement?
This American needs a translation. What is chowder mix? Also what type of cheese are we talking about? A mild white or a stronger cheddar? It sounds really yummy–like a fish shepherds’ pie.
My first comment was based on my own adaptation of the recipe advice from my grandmother and guidance in the Essential Seafood Book, but I will try Margaret O’Farrell’s version this weekend. It looks like a great variation.
Too bad Ali’s of Barna is so far from here.
Hi guys, so glad you all like the recipe! Ali’s, our fish shop, sells a mix of ‘bits’ of fish which they call a ‘chowder mix’. You could use whatever fish you like just chopped into bite size pieces. The mix we use would have bits of salmon, cod, haddock, smoked cod, prawns – your imagination is the only limiting factor!!
As for the cheese, we use Mossfield Organic which is a local cheese to our area. It is a gouda style cheese, but yes I have also done it with a strong cheddar.
Hope this helps!
Margaret
Thanks a million for stepping in, Margaret!
Thanks to some blessed and merciful soul, I was able to download a quantity converter app and convert the quantities.
I think they should be ok now.
Happy cooking and I’ll assume each one of you will invite Margaret and I to dinner…
David
Margaret, I have also posted the article on my Facebook and Google+ pages.
Thanks Sinead! Hope you enjoy it, let me know how you get on.
Margaret
sounds wonderful. thanks for giving the recipe to us.
Imiss my soda bread and Christmas fruit cake no matter how many times I try to make them its a lost cause .My Mother told me it was the limestone in the water in Cork that made the differance .Happy Christmas to one and all .God Bless Debby
I got around to making this recipe for Irish Fish Pie. There were a few refinements due to the availability of ingredients here in my part of the USA.
I used Kerry Gold Butter and a local (Virginia) gouda. Both ingredients are common in my cooking. The “new” potato variation is close to the old-fashioned Irish potatoes of my youth.
The result was delicious.
Sharon,
so glad you got to try and enjoy the recipe! The beauty of it is that it can be adapted to what is available. Happy New Year!