Cauliflower Cheese Fish Pie

Recently my family have been really enjoying these supermarket cod fishcakes with a oozy cheddar centre. I’d never of thought of putting cheese and fish together, but like this it works insanely well. So, inspired by this as always, I decided to do something fishy on the blog. Then the other day we had cauliflower cheese for dinner as it’s my Dad’s favourite, and we ended up with a big tub of it leftover in the fridge. It then occurred to me that most fish pies have a white sauce base with vegetables and fish mixed in, kinda like the fishcakes we like. So rather than go to all the effort of re-making a cheese sauce for a new fish dish I just mixed a bit of cod into the cauliflower cheese, then added bit more veg, whopped some mash on the top and bunged it in the oven. Hey presto, quick, tasty cauliflower cheese fish pie!

So this is great if you have leftover cauliflower cheese, but I’m also aware that it’s not a staple food in everyone’s home, and in order to make it in the first place you’re gonna need a recipe. Therefore the recipe below starts from scratch with making the cheese sauce and prepping the cauliflower, so you could make this as a thing without the need to make it from leftovers. You could also add prawns or a more oily fish like salmon if you want a bit more fish variety in there, but I’ve gone for just cod as it’s pretty easy to cook in a pie and pairs really well with the cheesy sauce.

Recipe

Serves 8

Time: 45 minutes (plus cooking time)

Ingredients

• 1kg Potatoes, peeled and halved
• 25g Butter
• 20ml Milk

For the filling

• 25g Butter
• 25g Plain flour
• 400ml Milk
• 400g Cod
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 100g Frozen peas
• ½ Cauliflower
• A handful of grated cheddar

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
2. Fill a pan with water and bring to the boil. Add the peeled potatoes and boil until soft and starting to flake.
3. Drain them and then mash them. Add the milk, butter and some salt and pepper to season, and then mix until fully combined. Set aside for later.
4. Now make the sauce. In another pan put the butter and leave to melt. Add the flour and mix until a paste forms. Then keep stirring the paste for 1-2 minutes to cook the flour.
5. Then slowly add the milk, whisking constantly, until a smooth sauce forms. Continue to heat whilst whisking for 3-4 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken.
6. Take the mixture off the heat and stir in the cod, mustard, peas, cauliflower and half the cheese. Spoon the mixture into an oven-proof dish. Top with the mash potato and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.
7. Put the pie into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the topping starts to brown. Serve warm with a side salad!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x