From Hake to Hero: Fisherman’s Pie That Won Winter

With the weather getting colder, I find myself craving comfort food — not the fancy, complicated kind, but the type that warms your soul and fills your kitchen with familiar smells.

Lately, I’ve been playing around with classic dishes and giving them a bit of a twist. Take fisherman’s pie, for example. I made a delicious fisherman’s pie with hake in a creamy lemon sauce, topped it with mashed potatoes, then sprinkled over some Parmesan and threw it in the oven. Honestly? Simplicity personified. And so, so delicious.

Often, I find people think, “Oh, if we want to make a delicious meal, we have to buy exotic ingredients, be lavish and decadent and extravagant.” And I say, no. It’s really just about good technique. Something simple. So, last night I made a fisherman’s pie with just hake. I cooked the hake milk, removed it, added some cornflour to the milk to thicken it up, and then I added an extra cup of cream just to extend it and add a bit more richness.

And in a moment of boldness, I thought, “Why don’t you add some lemon?” Because while I love the richness of cream, sometimes it becomes a little one-dimensional. So, I stirred in the juice of a lemon and the zest, popped it in the oven and bada bing, bada boom.

What I thought really made it special, rather than just serving the fisherman’s pie on its own, was a little salad on the side. We also had some bread rolls, and I thought, “I wonder if I can turn these into garlic bread rolls very quickly?” Just on a spur of the moment.

I grabbed some butter, crushed up some garlic, melted the butter in the microwave, and cut the rolls in half. I don’t even know what kind of bread rolls they were — almost like ciabatta rolls. Crispy little numbers. Cut them in half, buttered them up, threw them under the grill and toasted them.

I find this is just something I do. If I’m serving pasta or lasagna, I like to serve a salad and some garlic bread. It just gives a bit more variety, flavour and texture.

So if you’re inspired to create a variation of a cottage pie this winter, maybe you’re entertaining guests, or maybe you just want to do something a little special for your family, go for it. And I always say, I hate one-pot cooking. Sometimes it is convenient, but you know what I find? You can do a one-pot dish, and then just add one or two additional elements to the table. Even if you’re just cooking for yourself.

And you know, I think this really ties into something bigger. One of my thought processes was that there’s a big food trend happening at the moment. People are looking for nostalgic dishes. They’re craving comfort food. So I started thinking, what were my favourite dishes as a child that I still enjoy today?

I remember one thing I hated as a child was quiche. I think we had it to death. I swore I’d never eat quiche again. But now I find it’s one of the simplest things to serve. If you’ve got guests coming over and you want a quick, easy lunch — even just for yourself — a quiche and a salad, and boom. Bada bing, bada boom.

I was even thinking about macaroni and cheese. I think it’s because we’re getting properly cold now. And I was wondering, what were some of my favourite childhood dishes? And I thought, it wasn’t cottage pie — at least not back then. But now? Let’s try making a cottage pie that’s absolutely delicious.

And then I got worked up about mashed potatoes. Because I remember, in boarding school, mashed potatoes were a miserable, grey, watery affair. Honestly, there isn’t a nice adjective to describe the mashed potatoes we used to get in boarding school.

But now that I’m actually learning how to (sorry, I just amuse myself sometimes) — now that I’m learning how to make mashed potatoes properly, it’s really opened up my culinary horizons. And now we’re making cottage pie, shepherd’s pie, fisherman’s pie, all sorts of pies. And they’re so delicious.

If you’re looking for a homely dish that is packed with comfort and topped with mashed potato … just do it!