Reader recipe: Julie Lockett's fish pie

Shantanu Starick

Juliet Lockett's fish pie is the winner of this month’s reader recipe competition. On her entry she says: "There are a million versions of fish pie, but my take is a winner because it’s so simple and versatile, gets lots of “yum!” comments, you don’t need to make a white sauce, plus it helps to use up those veges in the fridge. You can use a wide range of fish — fresh gurnard is lovely, good smoked fish of course, or lift your game and add prawns and scallops if you can afford to. I find it’s still very tasty using the frozen fish sold in boxes at the supermarket and canned smoked fish too. It’s speedy, great for flatters and, when served in a nice dish with decent bread and a salad on the side, will pass for a lovely meal for guests. The trick seems to be to chop or even grate the veges so they all merge together well."

Ingredients

1	Onion, finely chopped
1	Carrot, peeled and grated
1 stalk	Celery, finely chopped
3 cups	Vegetables, such as courgette, spinach, beans, corn, peas, chopped
800 g	Fish, of your choice (Main)
1	Lemon, freshly juiced
1 cup	Cream, or coconut milk
½ cup	Fresh parsley, or coriander, chopped
1	Mashed potato, for topping
1	Cheddar cheese, grated, for topping

Directions

1. Heat oven to 180C. Gently fry onion, carrot and celery with a splash of olive oil and plenty of salt and ground black pepper until soft.
2. Mix in additional veges and fry for a few minutes. Spread this mixture over the base of a shallow baking dish.
3. Arrange the fish of your choice in a layer over the vege base and squeeze over the lemon juice.
4. Pour over cream and sprinkle with parsley. Or, option 2, coconut milk and coriander. Be generous with your choice of liquid as the veges and fish suck up the fluids.
5. Pile on mashed potatoes (or any combination of spuds, kumara and pumpkin). Sprinkle cheddar over the top and bake for 20-30 minutes until the top is crusty and the filling is bubbling around the side. Feel free to experiment with different fresh herbs like chives and include spices like curry power with the cream or cumin with the coconut milk and you can also add hard boiled eggs.

More recipes

For more winning reader recipes,go to this collection.