Al Brown's Smoked Fish & Kumara Pie

If you're anywhere in the New Zealand region you may have noticed the shocking weather we've had lately. Last night saw buckets of rain and 70 knot wind gusts. The wind and rain was so strong last night that we woke up to a section of the brick wall in the garden downstairs having blown over.

I know this dish isn't exactly summery, but with the weather as it is, a pile of fish in the freezer from our New Year's holiday up north, and my mounting dread of the 'summer' holidays ending, a creamy and slightly sweet smoked fish pie seemed perfect comfort food for a miserable evening. And as I've been told that a fish pie isn't a 'real' fish pie without the addition of hard boiled eggs, you can rest assured that this recipe meets that requirement.

The secret to this pie is the slow cooked bacon, onion, and thyme, which are left for 20 minutes to really caramelise and for the flavours to develop. While the recipe here is lifted almost directly from Al Brown's book Go Fish (for which you may have noticed I have a certain addiction to), I would probably increase the onion in the recipe next time around, just to bring out that sweetness a little more.

The recipe takes a little while to put together; there are a lot of components, the pie can be made earlier, refrigerated, then just baked a little longer.

Smoked Fish & Kumara Pie from Al Brown's Go Fish (Serves 6 as a main)

For the pie filling
75g streaky bacon, chopped into 1/2cm pieces
1c finely chopped onion
1/2c finely chopped celery
2T garlic, finely chopped
3-4 sprigs of thyme, tied together with kitchen string
3 hard boiled eggs
500g smoked fish (we used home-smoked kahawai)

Start by making the pie mix. Pop a pan on a medium-high heat and add a splash of oil. When it's hot, add the bacon, onion, celery and garlic. Let that cook down for 3 minutes or so, until the bacon fat starts to render and the vegies start to get soft. Add the thyme bundle, turn the heat down low, and let that cook for 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

By the end of that time, the onion should have caramelised and the bacon should be crispy and delicious. Crumble in the hard boiled eggs and smoked fish. By the way, this is good as is, piled on toast with a little parmesan shaved over the top!


For the kumara & potato topping
250g agria (mashing) potatoes, diced
500g Kumara, diced
25g Butter
1/2c cream
1/4c milk
Salt & pepper

While the bacon mix is cooking down, get a big pot of water on the boil for the potatoes and kumara. When it's up to the boil, add the potatoes and set your timer for 10 minutes.When the potatoes have been boiling for 10 minutes, add the kumara to the pot, and set your timer for another 10 minutes.

Once both the poatoes and kumara are cooked to mashing perfection, get your potato masher or ricer out, and smash them down to a creamy mix. Stir in the butter, cream and milk, and set aside.


For the white sauce
25g butter
25g flour
2 1/2c milk

Add the butter to a medium sized pot on a medium heat, and let it melt. Once it's melted, add the flour and stir like crazy. The flour and butter will form a paste. This is called a roux. Make sure you cook this paste, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. By letting the flour 'cook out', you'll avoid a floury-tasting white sauce.

Drizzle the milk into the roux, whisking all the while to get rid of any lumps. You'll see the roux absorbing the milk as you add it, until eventually you have a thin sauce. When you've added all the milk, let the sauce cook without boiling for a few more minutes, until it thickens up. Set aside.


For the buttery breadcrumb crunch
2c fresh breadcrumbs
50g butter, chopped into small cubes
Salt & pepper

Finally, make the breadcrumb topping by placing the breadcrumbs into a roasting pan, and dotting the cubes of butter around. Bake these in a 150 C oven for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until golden and delicious. Season with salt and pepper.


To assemble the pie
Now all you have to do is assemble the pie. Mix the white sauce, bacon mix, and smoked fish together. Taste the mix. Do you love this as a pie mix? Adjust the seasoning to your tastes.

Lay this in the bottom of a lasagne dish. Taste the mashed potato and kumara, and adjust the seasoning in this also. Spoon on top of the filling.

Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs.

Bake the whole thing at 180 C for 30 minutes or so, until you can see the filling bubbling at the sides. Let the pie cool for a moment before devouring.