A Fish Pie fit for a king! Flakes of fish smothered in a creamy white sauce, topped with mashed potato then baked until golden brown, a wonderful centrepiece for Easter you can make with fresh, smoked and even canned fish.
Use a combination of smoked fish and unsmoked fish for optimum flavour and texture, plus it’s more economical. Also see recipe notes for using canned tuna or salmon to make this!
Fish Pie
Let’s talk Fish Pie. Fish Pie for Easter! (Or any other time of the year 🙂 )
This recipe has a few more steps in it than my usual quick ‘n easy dinner recipes. But no more steps than usual pies – Cottage Pie, Beef and Mushroom Pie, Shepherds Pie.
A golden crusted, creamy mashed potato topping. A filling loaded with flakes of fish smothered in a beautiful creamy white sauce.
The extra pots and pans are totally worth it!
The key element of Fish Pie is the broth used to make the creamy sauce. And the path to a great broth is using the right fish.
Best Fish for Fish Pie
I like to use a combination of both smoked and normal unsmoked fish. The smoked fish (the bright orange one) provides most of the flavour. But I find it a bit overwhelming to use only smoked fish which is why I use both smoked and unsmoked (normal raw) fish.
Here in Australia, our range of smoked fish is sadly lacking. The only one sold at my local fish shop and supermarkets (Woolies) is smoked cod. It’s great value – $10/kg ($5/lb), it’s well seasoned infused with good smokey flavour, so it’s fantastic for Fish Pie.
And yes, it’s dyed. But I can’t deny that I love the colour it adds to the pie filling!
Poaching the fish with onions studded with cloves is a traditional method that I enjoy using. It adds a subtle hint of flavour into the broth to make this Fish Pie extra special.
I think you’ll be amazed at the flavour that’s infused into the milk with just 7 minutes of poaching time. It’s flavour that can’t be bought!!!
The flavour infused milk is then used to make the creamy sauce for the Fish Pie. I don’t think it’s strictly traditional to include sautéd carrots and celery in the sauce, but I like adding them because it adds even more flavour and it adds more texture to the filling.
This is a point of disagreement between myself and my brother who believes the filling should be just fish, whereas I find the texture too one dimensional for my taste. So I’ve included the carrots and celery as optional in the recipe – otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it! (Much like the fact that I tinkered with his famous Sausage Rolls recipe. He keeps going on and on and on about it 😂).
Key tip for the sauce – make sure it’s pretty thick. Like honey thick – that’s the best way I can describe it. It won’t thicken any more in the oven and also it’s likely that the fish will seep some liquid while baking. So basically, make the sauce as thick as you want it to be when you cut into the pie.
I’ve added egg into my Fish Pie, keeping with what I believe to be old school tradition 😇. I have a memory of cutting into a Fish Pie in a pub in London, and was “fishing” around trying to find the egg. I wanted my egg! Give me my egg!
But it is optional. 😂
Top with mash, rough it up (more ridges = more crunch!), drizzle with butter, sprinkle with parmesan and bake…..
……and look what comes out.
I know I should be focussing on the filling, but let me have a moment. Look at that golden crunchy crust! It’s so good!!!!
OK, now it’s the fillings’ turn.
LOOK AT THAT CREAMY FILLING loaded with the tender flakes of fish!!!!
This Fish Pie might be fit for a king, but it’s totally economical to make. If you purchase your fish from the supermarket (Woolworths), it should cost less than $20 and it serves 6 to 8 people. I’m sharing this with Good Friday in mind. Traditionally, meat isn’t consumed on Good Friday and while a side of salmon recipe is usually first to mind, I thought I’d share something a little different for this year! – Nagi x
PS Though if salmon is what you’re after, there’s plenty to browse. For gatherings, try this Baked Parmesan Crusted Salmon with Lemon Cream Sauce (firm personal favourite) or Salmon Gravlax. See all my Salmon recipes here!
More cosy pies
-
Cottage Pie (beef)
-
Shepherd’s Pie (lamb – because Shepherd’s herd sheep!)
-
Browse all cosy Winter Warmers
And more fish recipes:
-
Honey Garlic Salmon and Lemon Honey Glazed Salmon – super quick!
-
See all Fish recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Fish Pie
Ingredients
Fish:
- 400 g / 14 oz smoked fish of choice (Note 1)
- 400 g / 14 oz raw unsmoked fish of choice , I used Perch (Note 2)
- 3 cups / 750 ml milk , low fat or full fat
- 1 brown onion , quartered (Note 3)
- 4 cloves , optional (Note 4)
White Sauce:
- 50 g / 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/2 small onion , finely chopped
- 1 small carrot , finely chopped
- 1 small celery stick , finely chopped
- 1/3 cup / 50g plain flour (all purpose flour, Note 11 for GF)
- 1 tbsp fresh tarragon , finely chopped (optional)
- 2 tbsp parsley , finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
Potato Topping:
- 750 g / 1.5 lb floury potatoes , peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1" pieces (Note 5)
- 30 g / 2 tbsp+ unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml milk, any fat %
Pie:
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 4 hard boiled eggs , quartered (optional) (Note 6)
- 30 g / 2 tbsp butter , melted
- 1/4 cup / 15g grated parmesan cheese , optional
- Finely chopped parsley , for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Fish:
- Push a clove into the skin of each onion. Place in a pot or large skillet, add milk, turn stove onto medium high heat.
- When milk is barely simmering, add fish - don't worry if it's not entirely covered, it can be turned / moved around.
- Poach fish for 7 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to transfer fish straight into a medium baking dish (Note 8).
- Flake into chunks using forks. Remove bones if you see any.
- Use slotted spoon to remove onion and cloves from milk, discard. RESERVE milk.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Boil water for potatoes.
Sauce:
- Melt butter in a large, deep skillet or pot over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Then add celery and carrot, cook for 5 minutes until carrot is soft.
- Turn heat down to medium low. Add flour, mix in - it will look gluey.
- Add half the milk and quickly start mixing. Once incorporated, the mixture will thicken quickly. Add remaining milk and stir. (Video helpful here)
- Turn heat up to medium and keep stirring until the mixture thickens to the consistency of honey - about 3 minutes. (Note 7)
- Take it off the heat, stir through tarragon and parsley. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Pie:
- Scatter top of flaked fish with peas, then pour over the Sauce. GENTLY stir through (don't want fish to turn into mush!).*
- Smooth top, then nestle egg in all over the pie.
Mashed Potato:
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add potatoes and cook for 15 minutes or until soft. (Do this while making the Sauce).
- Drain potato, add butter, milk, salt and pepper. Mash until creamy - add more milk if required.
- Immediately dollop then spread onto pie (cold mash = hard to spread).
- Use fork to draw squiggles on surface (rough surface = better golden bits).
Bake Pie:
- Drizzle surface with melted butter, sprinkle with parmesan.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until top is deep golden.
- Stand for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with parsley if desired. See notes for reheating and make ahead.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
When I first got him, he was so shy he used to sleep with his head stuffed between cushions. Soooo cute…..! (Didn’t last long, he was ruling the house in no time).
did this for diner a few nights ago am off to the markets to buy more fish for monday lunch..fab recipe
So quick so flavoursome .So pleased there is only 2 of us in this house , had a fabulous dinner left over for tomorrows lunch and 2 containers in the freezer..Brilliant
Best fish pie I have ever eaten. I wonderd about the boiled egg but I never even noticed it was in the pie, it just added extra texture. I half the recipe as I only had 450g of fish pie mix
Made this tonight but put puff pastry on top instead of mashed Potato – awesome!
This recipe is by far the best tasting i have ever had , The fish i used was the smoked cod,salmon ,ling and prawns although the ling seemed a little tight !! but was ok ,the sauce was so yum but had no tarragon but added dill , thank you ,all your recipes are lovely keep up the great work ..
Can you freeze this recipe…
Tip: for the poaching onions, cut them into quarters with skin on. Then peel, I just use my hands. chop a bit of the top if you want.
Fantastic recipe as always. I would recommend to not skip the clover and tarragon. They do add “something something” in the dish that makes it special.
Hi Nagi! I’m a huge fan of your recipes and make them regularly. I live in Northern Ireland and can assure you my entire family LOVE your food. Had the Easter fish pie on Sunday, Amazeballs!
Hi Nagi, I made this last night and it was absolutely delicious! Once again, thank you for such a wonderful recipe. Cheers
Hey Nagi and Dozer, I just tried this recipe (I had no tarragon but fresh basil is really good as well) And the filling will be going into a pie maker with instant mash ,onion powder and parmesan) Looks amazing and the eggs just complete the symphony of flavours, Thank you and happy Easter!
Hi Nagi and team,
I remember my Mum always soaked the cod in water first to lessen the saltiness of the fish. What are your thoughts on this? 🙂
Nagi! I love ALL your recipes. I recently saw the local fish shop selling salmon ‘mince’ for $14 a kg, (it’s all the bits left after deboning).. wondering what I can use it in? Would it work in this pie or get too dry? It’s lots of little pieces. Thanks soo much! Xx
Salmon fish cakes. Google for a recipe
I add a tin of anchovies blitzed with breadcrumbs in a blender (the oil as well) and sprinkle it over the topping before baking.
I remember a fish recipe in the UK with smoked haddock and hard boiled eggs and rice, it was an Indian recipe with curry powder, Kedgeree. This recipe is amazing.
Family loves this fish pie. Thank you so much for this fab recipe. Your temps are they for fan forced ovens or without fan.
This is my favourite fish pie recipe, easy to make, yes it may take a little longer, but remember good things are worth the wait. I always add in prawns and scallops, this is so adaptable. Guests always rave and ask for the recipe.
This was very yummy. I simplified a bit by only using smoked fish that we had (didn’t poach any fish – saving quite a bit of time) and left out the boiled eggs. I didn’t have tarragon so swapped this out for some finely chopped basil. All worked out well and was enjoyed by all.
Having successfully made this dish twice, decided to try the fish pie recipe of a well-known UK chef. I was looking for quicker preparation and that recipe didn’t recommend poaching the fish, no adding of carrots and celery and no chopping fresh tarragon. While it was slightly quicker to make, the flavor was not as delectable as Ngai’s recipe! I’ll continue to make her version in the future.
The carrot mixture took 30 minutes. Not 5. And I cooked my white sauce fore 40 minutes before it took on the consistancy of honey. All wrong advice. Don’t advise people when you don’t know what you’re doing.
I was looking to see if you had left this comment on April 1st but no, you left the comment on September the 6th!!!
Such a funny comment 🤣🤣
Nagi’s recipes are superb, my go to website. Trust her enough to use her recipes for the first time when there are guests! Never goes wrong. Will cook this one asap! For a family get together….. 🇬🇧
Absolutely delicious. Another great recipe, tx Nagi. There are a few steps, but reading the recipe a couple of times before hand would help to avoid disappointment/failure. You are an amazing cook and all your recipes work for me😊
Delicious Fish Pie! I cheated and used ready made mash! I added in a couple of fresh bay leaves to the poaching liquid. I shall make this again.