Rigoletto and Fish Pie, a Sunday Recipe from Celia Wakefield

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Just in time for Lent, our local chef de cuisine Celia Wakefield has you set with a warm, delicious and comforting fish pie, which, yes, seemed VERY British to me as well. Please don't let the length of the recipe scare you off - I saw Celia make this after a two hour round trip to the theatre and a performance of Rigoletto, which isn't a short opera. It was NOT difficult, and has the benefit of being a dish you can throw together the day after cooking the seafood. I had two helpings and would have taken the left-overs back home with me if Celia had given the slightest hint. Oh, well, I suppose Victor and she did have to have something for lunch the next day. 

(Note on the videos - I'm sorry there are so many! I usually edit them to make two or three compilations, but my video editor would NOT cooperate.)

Good morning to all the Reds, and a Big Thank You Julia for letting me loose on the blog yet again. So where are we? My Facebook page told me several time that today is a palindrome. While that has nothing to do with the fact that February has 28 days I’m willing to explore these wormholes. I know the 28 days has to do with squaring our year to fit within the lunar cycle, and why February? I am inquisitive enough to actually go and check up. Here is the answer from Britannica -the Romans considered February an unlucky month as this was the month they honored their dead so lets make it the short one.

 

 Well that’s enough of the Romans, though I do find it interesting that we are still doing things mandated by them. Just to complete the cycle of facts, I first came across a or several palindromes in one of Margary Allingham’s books -“More Work for the Undertaker” is the book I think. I was probably in my teens when I read it. I remember the story involved an eccentric, well educated and well bred middle aged family of siblings with a murder in their midst. Call for Albert Campion (non de plume).

Enough of dawdling down paths of mystery, my task today is to offer another of my recipes. Julia chose this as we had it for dinner after the three of us had been to see Rigoletto in a Met Opera HD performance. It is lovely to find a friend who enjoys Opera as it’s so much fun to be able to share views after. Another side note. If you are an Opera buff and haven’t seen this production, please try to catch it. The singing and acting is sublime. Both Rigoletto and Gilda have performed this together many times and it shows. 

 

We had a grand afternoon and because HD shows begin at 1pm, I had made and brought smoked salmon sandwiches to tide us over till dinner. It was a rather fishy day.

 

Arriving home we got to work on dinner, my fish pie, after the necessary restorative cuppa. With full disclosure as they say in the media, I have never been very fond of fish. Having thrown out a challenge to the ocean I must admit that I love shell fish, and totally love sushi and sashimi. In fact I really only like tuna raw. I am also partial to some smoked fish and was very disappointed when Legal SeaFoods took their blue fish pate off their menu. But serve me blue fish, Herring or mackerel, nothing oily, too fishy, thank you. I had unpleasant eating experiences with fish at boarding school. Being a convent it was fish on Fridays and usually boiled to flannel texture with bones still in and no sauce. 

 

But that will not be the case with my fish pie, there will be sauce and that is what caught Julia’s attention. Why fish pie? Well for some long lost reason fish pie is what I crave if I’m not feeling well. Baked golden brown fish pie with an embellished white sauce thick with cheese and hard boiled eggs into which one mixes cod, pollock, cusk whatever white fish available. As I can get good fresh pollock that was the choice along with Bang Island mussels. 

This is a no recipe, beloved of Sam Shifton, NYT Food Editor, who usually writes about no recipe meals on Wednesdays, then proceeds to tantalise me with many no recipe ideas which I can’t read as I won’t pay the price so to do. But I will put in my quantities as I can best guess them, which probably is good for 4-6 people. There was plenty left to serve again after the three of us had dinner, and it held up well over six days refrigeration.

 

Sea food ingredients:

1# bag of mussels

1# pollock

 

For cooking the mussels:

1/2 onion, chopped

Fresh dill

1 tsp fennel seeds,

1 tsp peppercorns

1/2 c white wine or vermouth 

Wash mussels, throw out any that have broken shells. 

Use a large frying pan with a lid to cook the mussels  

Add half a chopped onion, some dill fresh preferably, tsp of fennel seeds, tsp peppercorns, 1/2 cup white wine or vermouth, 1/2 cup water and the mussels to the pan and cover.

 

Heat till the liquid boils and the mussels start to open, 

Cook a couple more minutes, then drain liquid and mussels through a sieve.

       

Put the mussels to one side discarding any that didn’t open, to cool down

Carefully pour the cooking liquid into a microwave safe dish with lid and add the fish. Do not use all the liquid as there will be some sand etc from the mussels at the bottom.

 

The cooking liquid can be used with milk in the sauce if wished

Sauce and topping ingredients:

 

4 hard boiled eggs, peeled

Cheddar or another grating cheese to make a cup plus grated (Parmesan would only be my choice for topping)

Potatoes, enough to make 3-4 cups of mashed potato

Milk, butter, oil, salt and pepper

Dill to season if liked

Toasted bread or Panko crumbs for topping

Egg and Cheese Sauce:

Hard boil the eggs in advance and peel them

Grate enough cheese to fill a cup measure, I choose cheddar*

Step 1, seasoning the milk

Add to a pint of milk

1.     bay leaf

2.     10 peppercorns

3.     nutmeg pieces or half a tsp grated nutmeg

4.     small piece of onion or shallot

5.     couple sprigs of parsley

Put the milk and first five ingredients in a small saucepan, 

Heat almost to a boil, 

Turn the heat down all the way and allow to simmer gently for ten minutes or so

Strain the milk to remove seasonings into a jug for pouring onto the roux.

 

Step 2, making the roux

 

2 Tblsp unsalted butter - if you use salted just taste sauce before adding more seasoning

2Tblsp flour - if GF use enough potato starch to make a roux

Salt and pepper, dill, nutmeg

Melt the butter and add the flour in two or three turns

Stir to incorporate butter and flour and cook for a few minutes over medium heat to ‘cook out’ the raw flour taste 

Take the pan off the heat and whisk about a quarter of the milk into the roux, mixing well to break up any small lumps

Return pan to medium heat and continue to add the milk a little at a time, whisking briskly and watching the mixture thicken. You may not need all the milk

 

As the sauce thickens add the cheese which will help the sauce thickening process then season to taste

Mix in the well chopped eggs, chopped dill, or parsley, grated nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste

 

Baking the Fish Pie:

Pour the sauce into the casserole,

Mix in the cooked fish, and shellfish if used, which should be broken into bite sized pieces

Cover the top with mashed potatoes and add a sprinkle of grated cheese and breadcrumbs if you wish.

Use an oven proof casserole and bake at 350F for about a half hour or until the top is golden brown. 

 

 

 

 

NOTES:

This is truly a ‘seat of pants’ recipe and I encourage you to make it as you will. Looking back there do seem to be many directions but I would rather over compensate than leave a step out.

 

The sauce is based on a béchamel sauce that I learned to make many years ago. However it is fine to make a roux and mix in the milk without going through the seasoning process first. But done this way if you have time does add an element to the dish. As you can see the sauce is what makes the dish special. Perhaps I should just make the sauce and get a spoon!

 

I often make this with white fish which I cover with milk in a microwave safe dish and nuke for a couple of minutes, then let sit. That cooks the fish and I use the milk to make the sauce. 

 

Final Word: An immersion blender can solve almost all lumpy problems.