Fish pie

This is a regular in my house now and was a regular as I grew up. I'd like to say that I make a white sauce in which the fish cooks -- but I don't. It's a slight cheat, but for everyday cooking, this is what I do. If you want to entertain a lot of people and give them something luxurious, thrn make a proper sauce and add smoked haddock and some prawns -- possibly even some scallops. I'll refer you to Nigel Slater --try Appetite (my favourite). But try this as a quick and very economical tea, just as it came from my mother's kitchen.

Now, I was taught to make this with coley. It's delicious and, I notice being marketed in our local fish and chip shop now that we know we should not be eating cod. Or maybe pollock? Try to find a fishmonger and tell him what you are making. Either way, you want some good white fish. I'd prefer fresh fish, but you might like to try out the 'value' frozen white fish fillets that folks seem to overlook in the freezer cabinets of your local supermarket. It's often coley or pollock --sometimes a mixture of more than one fish. Give it a try. But, yes, fresh is best of all.

I would want to serve this in big, generous portions, so allow the following.

For your mashed potato topping, 1.5 kg of potatoes, You want floury ones, otherwise this will not work.
In total, you need about 3 kg of fish. Filleted and checked over for bones and skin. Keep it in large pieces; don't mince it.
A big handful of fresh parsley
A big slice of unsalted butter. But keep the packet to hand.
500ml milk. Yes, full fat is most luxurious, but semi skimmed is what I have at home.

Put the fish in a large oven dish. This looks the part, I think, in a roasting dish. Lay it out evenly across the dish. Cover it with about 500ml of milk (the fish needs to be almost submerged) and a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper plus the chopped parsley If you like, tuck in a bay leaf and, maybe a finely chopped small onion -- but that's all.

If the fish is being cooked from frozen, put it into the oven at gas 6/200 and allow it to poach for five to ten minutes in the milk. If it's fresh, you can skip this step.

Put your potatoes on to cook; they are done when they are soft enough to mash. Then, mash them well and add the slice of butter, a little milk and salt and pepper to taste. The potato should be silky, but not too runny. Put the mashed potato on top of the fish base, smoothing it over carefully and then roughening up the surface with a fork. You could dot it with just a little more butter, then put it into the oven for 45-50 minutes. The top should be browned and the forked-up peaks beginning to catch a little.

I love this as is, but if you want to make a proper sauce, do it with 500ml of milk to approximately four tablespoons of plain flour. You could also add cream to the recipe I've described above (in which case, reduce the quantity of milk you have put in) or cut the milk for the white sauce half and half with cream. Mussels, prawns, smoked haddock, as I've said, even scallops (coral and all) could be added. You could see which you like best -- or maybe which mood you are in today. But a jumble of different things would not please me. Perhaps the white fish and two other additions at most?

I like to serve this pie with lots of frozen peas. I never seem to get the quantity of fresh that I want --although I seem to remember we often did when I was little. Summers were longer then, as you know. You could also serve a mound of runner beans -- but nothing else. The pie should not be at all dry, but should, instead, spread across your plate: not a tidy plate of food at all