Frugal Fish Pie

We love fish but it is very expensive.  We therefore stretch it by making a fish pie.  A pie will feed 4 people with one piece of fish, some vegetables, and a hand full of prawns.  I like to have  a bag of prawns in the freezer as for a small price I can put a handful into stir fry, a savoury rice, a paella, or in a pasta sauce.  One bag will provide me with about 5 meals.

Ingredients

200g of fish or more if you have it  (it can be any kind of fish or a mix of different fish)

a hand full of prawns

800g of potatoes or left over mashed potato

400ml of milk

25g butter

25g plain flour

A pinch of salt and pepper

A mixture of defrosted frozen vegetables c ( I use left over cooked vegetables sometimes).

A handful of grated hard cheese

1 tsp of mustard

Method

1. In advance cook the fish in the milk in a saucepan.  Once cooked let it all cool.
2. Put the frozen prawns in cold water to defrost.  I do both of these a few hours before.
3. Cook the potatoes and mash and season if not using left over mashed potatoes
4. Heat the oven to 180C (I cook mine in the air fryer if I have nothing else to do).
5. Make the sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan, adding the flour and stirring quickly to a kind of paste, and then slowly add the milk whilst continually stirring until it boils and is the consistency that you want.  Some people use a balloon whisk to do this.
6. Add the cheese and mustard to the sauce and stir.  If too thick add a bit more milk. Season with salt and pepper.
7. Put the fish into the bottom of the dish and add the prawns and the vegetables. I often use individual lasagne dishes that I bought from the pound shop.
8. Pour the sauce over
9. Dot the potato over the top and then smooth over with a fork that makes a ribbed pattern.
10. Scatter a bit of extra cheese on top if you wish
11. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes or until the top is golden

Another way to make a cheap way to enjoy a different kind of fish pie is to to make a fish finger Pie