Rick Stein's classic fish pie

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, thickly sliced
• 4 cloves
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 1.2L whole milk
• 600ml double cream
• 900g unskinned pollock fillet
• 450g undyed smoked haddock fillet
• 24 large cooked prawns
• 8 eggs
• 200g butter
• 90g plain flour
• Large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• 2.5kg peeled floury potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edward
• 2 egg yolks
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Method

1. Put the onion slices and cloves in a large pan with the bay leaf, 900ml of the milk, the cream, pollock and smoked haddock. Bring ... minutes. Lift the fish out to a plate and strain the cooking liquor into a jug. When the fish is cool enough to handle, break it into la... over the base of a shallow 3.5 litre ovenproof dish.
2. Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes, then drain and leave to cool. Peel and cut them into chunky slices and arrange on top of the fis...
3. Melt 100g of the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the reserved ... to the boil, stirring all the time. Leave it to simmer gently for 10 minutes to cook out the flour. Remove from the heat once more, st... salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. Boil the potatoes for 15 - 20 minutes. Drain, then using a hand whisk puree the potatoes until lump free and fluffy, add the remain... freshly ground white pepper. Beat in enough of the remaining milk to form a soft, spreadable mash.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/180c fan. Spoon the potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, ...
6. Recipe tip: What to serve with fish pie - the simple answer is garden peas. It really doesn't need anything more fancy.
7. Recipe tip: You can make this ahead and freeze it. Leave the boiled eggs out if it is going straight in the freezer. Once cooled, wrap tightly and freeze for up to three months; defrost in the fridge for 24 hours.