I have followed her through The Sunday Telegraph's Stella Magazine, and it is probably the only reason I spend £2 a week on a paper I barely read. Tonight I am cooking Fish Pie with Leek Mash, from her Food From Plenty book (if you have it p.134).
So, this fish pie, well the most important thing about it is her secret ingredient, Heinz Salad Cream, I cannot tell you how excited I am about trying this one out!
Diana Henry is so right when she says "everyone needs a recipe for fish pie", but I find that I am quite fickle, I like different types of fish pies for different moods, a more luxurious one by Jamie Oliver that makes a magical sauce from grated carrot and celery, or a more frugal one like my mother used to make with milk, cornflour for thickening, white fish and buttery mash served with peas (Birds Eye of course) and ketchup!
Tonight is the debut of Diana Henry's version, and as usual I don't have all the ingredients to hand, but I am one for improvising so I will show you her recipe and my adjustments to let you know how I managed.
Diana Henry's Fish pie with leek mash
Serves 6 I have done it for 4
900g White skinless fish fillets I have used 4 frozen M&S Haddock fillets I had left in the freezer
425ml Full-fat milk I never have this so I have used semi-skimmed, and about 275ml
100g Butter I reduced this to about 50ishg
50g Plain Flour I used about 2 1/2 tbsp
Salt and Pepper
Juice of 1/2 small lemon I used about this, I had a lemon to use up that was drying out a bit!
3 tsp Dijon mustard I thought I would keep the sauce seasoning pretty much the same
1 1/2 tbsp Heinz Salad Cream The exciting new ingredient!
125ml Double Cream I didn't have any in, but I did have some soured cream leftover, so I put that in instead
3 tbsp chopped Dill or Parsley I only had some parsley, but I LOVE Dill so next time...
200g Cooked peeled prawns I personally cannot stand prawns, or most shellfish, sorry, so I left these out, but you could add more fish, or Diana Henry recommends boiled eggs
500g Leeks, sliced I had two leeks left so chopped them up
800g Floury potatoes I had about 5 Maris Pipers left from the last big shop so used that up. perfect amount for 4 people.
Put the fish in a saute pan and poach in the milk for 3 mins, remove and set aside on a plate reserving the milk. As I was using frozen fish, I poached until cooked through, about 20 mins
Melt 50g butter in a saucepan, add the flour and beat together, take off the heat and add the poaching milk bit by bit, beating really well to make it smooth. Return to the heat and bring to the boil, stirring, it should be really thick. Season, add the lemon juice, mustard and salad cream. Reduce the heat and cook for 2 mins. Add the cream and herbs. I basically followed this with the reduced ingredients. Diana says "this should be full flavoured"
Put the fish into a pie dish (2.4l/4pint) Any liquid under the fish, stir into the sauce, pour the sauce over the fish I broke my fish fillets up at this point and mix. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, leave to cool, put in the 'fridge as it will be easy to spread the mash on.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
Melt the rest of the butter in a pan, tip in the leeks with 2 tbsp water, turn the leeks over so they are coated, season and cover, leave on a low heat until really soft and sloppy. Add more water if required so they don't burn.
Cook the potatoes in salted water, until tender, drain, dry off by putting back on a low heat with a clean tea towel over the top to absorb the water and mash until smooth I didn't add milk or butter, but in hindsight I think a bit of each would be better.
Stir the leeks into the mash and top the fish, put in the over for 30 mins until golden and bubbling.
I served with peas which I think are obligatory with a fish pie, I also added some frozen spinach under the mash to add a bit more greenery, it is January and eating healthily is a tradition at this time of year.
Here it is...
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