Fancy Fish Pie

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan-forced).
2. Place leek, fennel, carrot, potato, bay leaves, all fish and milk together in a large pan over a medium-low heat. Bring milk to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes or until fish is just cooked. Strain fish into a colander catching the milk in a bowl (you need this to make your sauce).
3. To make the sauce* in a small saucepan heat butter over a medium heat until melted. Add flour, stirring until well combined. Slowly add 500ml of the cooking liquid (milk) from the fish, stirring continuously until the mixture becomes thick and smooth. Remove from heat, add cheddar, chopped fennel fronds, tarragon, parsley, peas, salt and pepper, stirring until well combined. If you have a Thermomix you can use this to make the sauce. Place all sauce ingredients (500ml milk, 50g butter, 50g plain flour, ½ cup cheese) in Thermomix, set at 90C, 7 minutes, speed 4. Once finished add herbs and blend on speed 4 for 5 seconds until combined.
4. Add the sauce to the fish & vegetable mixture gently mix until combined. Spread this out on a tray to cool (Pastry tip: to avoid soggy pastry allow your pie filling to cool before placing the pastry on the pie dish).
5. Find a decent sized family pie tin. Remove pastry from the packet, check to see if pastry fits over pie tin. If you need to roll it out a little further, place pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll as required. Fill dish with pie filling; roll the pastry over the top of the filling. Trim edges, using off cuts for decoration. Brush pastry with beaten egg and using a large skewer create three air holes, to allow steam to escape. Place pie on a baking tray in preheated oven, bake at 220°C (200° fan-forced) for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 200°C (180° fan-forced) and continue to bake for 30 minutes, turn the oven down to 190°C (170° fan-forced) for a further 10 minutes. The pastry should be puffed and golden. Serve with a big bowl of broccoli tossed in olive and sea salt.