Different Kind of Shepard’s Pie
Larger view here. Sometimes when I cook, things go wrong and what was a well thought out plan… failed in execution. Yes. Failure. LOL. Most of the time, I can adjust and make it edible at the very least… but last week was a different story. It was a train wreck. Train. Wreck. I was *going* to make dover sole with a white bean puree and sauteed spinach… but the fillets were wayyy too thin and got uber flakey. Poor ingredient choices I guess. Sadness. We opted for pizza instead. Hee hee.
The next morning, I had a bunch of cooked leftover fish to deal with. After thinking it over for a while, I thought that I could combine it with some leftover mashed potatoes & the sauteed spinach to make a sort of a shepard’s pie. Huh? Yes. Fisherman’s pie. YAY fish pie!
To assemble the meal, I buttered a casserole dish and flaked the fish on the bottom. I then layered the spinach, some sauteed red peppers and shallots on top. For the mashed potatoes, I added one egg yolk for body, the last shavings of Gruyere, minced parsley and a dollop of grainy mustard to get that “twang” you get in British comfort food (bangers & mash + mustard + a pint of beer = delicious). I threw the dish in a preheated oven set at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. While it was in the oven, I combined a 1/2 stick of melted butter with a cup of Japanese panko bread crumbs to sprinkle on top of the casserole. After 45 minutes cooking, I cranked the oven to a high broil for another 5 minutes… right when the crunchy topping was turning golden brown. While I let it sit for a couple of minutes, I blended a handful of parsley with some canola oil and drizzled it on the plate with some finely diced red peppers and shallots.
Think about it… when you had fish sticks when you were little, you most likely had it with mashed potatoes, corn or macaroni and cheese, right? The crunchy textures from the fish sticks matched with the creaminess from the mashed potatoes and cheesiness with the mac n’ cheese. It works right? Right. After digging around the Intertubes (and ultimately to the BBC), I found that this was actually a common theme. I’m kinda mad at myself for not adding hard boiled eggs like the BBC recommends. That would have been delicious! LOL.
YAY Meat Pies! 
~Spec
