Some days everything seems normal. Other days, it feels like we’ve lost all concept of “normal”. It’s there, in the past, and maybe somewhere in the future, but we can’t quite recall exactly how it looks, or what it feels like.

However, “normal” things still go on. I’ve planted the garden and it’s coming along nicely, given the satisfactory mix of rain and warm days we’ve had on the Island this month. And I’ve been cleaning out the freezer, as we do this year. Making sure that we use up any frozen fish from last year, because fishing season starts……and then it’s back again….who knows what the fishing season will look like this year? Either commercial or sports?

Comfort food is required. So I opt for a Fish Pie. This recipe is half stolen from Jamie Oliver, and some from Delia (UK folks will know who she is) and the rest of me and the glorious seafood we have access to in this part of the world, (hopefully)

You can use any seafood – except smoked, it’s too strong a flavour for this pie.

We ate large helpings of the pie with some steamed asparagus from the garden, and for a while, forgot about all our troubles. 

West Coast Fish Pie Recipe

Ingredients.

1 1/2 lbs seafood (prawns, salmon, halibut) deboned, de-skinned and cubed.

3 cups mashed potato

1 cup of chopped bacon

1 onion, chopped

4 large handfuls of spinach

1 carrot, chopped

3 hard boiled eggs, quartered

1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese, grated

1 small tub of sour cream

Seasoning.

Pre-heat the over to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). In a large pie dish, arrange the cubed fish on the bottom, and place the quarters of hard boiled egg on top. Prepare your mashed potato – add lots of butter to make it creamy. Fry the bacon, onion and carrot in a large frying pan until the carrot is soft, and the bacon is starting to crisp up. If the bacon has produced a lot of oil, drain some off. Add the spinach and stir until it starts to wilt. Then add the sour cream, I cup of parmesan and seasoning until the mixture is thick and creamy, and the cheese is melted. Pour the bacon, spinach and cheese mixture over the fish and hard boiled eggs. Then top it off with the mashed potato and sprinkle with the last half cup of cheese.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Tip: place the pie dish on a cookie sheet while you cook it, because it’s almost certain to bubble over.