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Bruno's Fish Pie

Ready in 1 hr 5 mins

Recipe by Graham 

Bruno's Fish Pie is so named because our friend, Bruno Cavellec and his lovely wife, Jill, invited us for dinner. Unfortunately, they had builders in and, on the evening in question, had no electricity so (since they only live 100 metres away) they brought their food with them and popped it into our oven. And what an absolutely mouth-watering delight their fish pie was. Succulent fish and prawns with grated vegetables and crême fraîche, covered in a layer of smooth and silky creamed potatoes... absolutely a recipe to die for! They can cook at ours any time they want if they turn out recipes like that.

The great joy of Bruno's Fish Pie is that it is fantastically simple and doesn't involve poaching the fish or making a tedious white sauce. You can use whatever fish take your fancy or are available (some supermarkets offer packs of mixed fish and shellfish especially for use in fish pies), and lots of good, fragrant vegetables can be added quickly by grating them into the mix. The addition of more crême fraîche makes the pie as creamy and luxurious as you want.

Preparation Time

25 Minutes

Cooking Time

40 Minutes

Ingredients for Bruno's Fish Pie

If you are not familiar with any ingredients, please check our International Cooking Terms page.

Currently displaying quantities in US Imperial Measurements

To serve 4 - 6:

4 large potatoes
1 large carrot
1 stick celery
4 oz Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
5-6 stalks parsley
1½ lb assorted fish, shellfish and crustaceans
5-6 tablespoons crême fraîche
  olive oil
  salt and pepper

How to Cook Bruno's Fish Pie

  1. Peel the potatoes and use them to make Creamed Potatoes.
  2. While the potatoes are cooking, take a deep, generously-proportioned ovenproof dish and stand a grater in it. Peel the carrot and, using the coarse side of the grater, grate the carrot, along with the celery and Cheddar cheese into the dish. Then, using the fine side of the grater, grate the zest from the lemon over the mix. Finely chop the parsley and add to the dish.
  3. Cut the fish into bite-sized chunks (ensure there are no bones) and add them to the dish. Add any prawns or shellfish that you may wish to include. Squeeze the juice from the lemon over the mixture then drizzle with olive oil and a good pinch of salt and freshly-ground pepper. Mix well then spoon the crême fraîche over the top.
  4. Spread the Creamed Potatoes evenly over the top of the fish mixture (you can create pretty patterns with a fork if you want to impress!). Cook in the middle of a preheated fairly hot oven (Mk 6 - 400ºF - 200ºC) for 40 minutes until cooked through, crispy and golden on top. Serve steaming hot with vegetables of your choice.
GRAHAM'S HOT TIP:
If you want to enjoy this dish without all the preparation, just invite Bruno and Jill to dinner!!
 
GRAHAM'S WINE RECOMMENDATION:
You might imagine that a white wine would best suit this recipe but in fact a nice Rioja like Marqués de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2005 is an excellent choice.