I've long been a fan of shepherd's pie or cottage pie. I enlarged my repertoire to include fish pie, made with wine poached fish, leeks, and mushrooms in a delicate white sauce. But last night I tried this super easy variation and it was yumptious.
It's so easy. Set your oven at 400. Start some potatoes boiling in salted water (a clove or two of garlic in with them is a nice addition.) While the potatoes are cooking, put into a large bowl some cut-up cod, some sliced onion, some minced garlic, a cut-up tomato or two , a handful or two of fresh spinach, a minced chili pepper or two, some fresh parsley and basil, salt and pepper, a handful or so of grated cheese, and moisten the whole thing with a bit of olive oil. Toss together then pile into a casserole.Drain and mash the softened potatoes (and garlic) with a little butter and milk or cream. Cover the fish and veg with the potatoes; sprinkle a little paprika on top, and cook at 400 till hot and bubbling (about 45 minutes.) The cheese and tomato combine to make a creamy sauceNo, I haven't given amounts-- you can be flexible. Do remember not too overwhelm the cheese with too much tomato. That would make the sauce too thin. For this iteration that served two generously with leftovers, I used two medium tomatoes to two cups shredded cheese.Now I'm wondering about using salmon or smoked haddock, as the Brits do--if I knew where to find smoked haddock . . .
