Sophie Dahl's fish pie with celeriac mash recipe

A brilliant salmon and cod fish pie recipe with a flavoursome mash topping made with celeriac, or celery root. Jamie Oliver says 'Sophie has a great style of cooking and recipes that you really want to eat'.

Like this? You're going to love our classic fish pie recipe!

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 80g (½ cup) of chopped onions
• 2 leeks, white part only, chopped
• 100 (1 cup) of sliced mushrooms
• 400g (13oz) 1 cod fillet, cut into chunks, or a mix of half salmon, half cod
• 175g/1 cup raw peeled prawns or shrimps
• 375ml (1½ cups) milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 1tbsp butter
• 2tbsp arrowroot
• 2tbsp fresh parsley
• 1tbsp fresh dill
• 1 slug of white wine (optional)

For the celeriac mash:

• 2 small celeriac
• A little milk
• Knob of butter
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180ºC/160ºC/gas 4.
2. First, make the celeriac mash. Peel the celeriac and cut into chunks, then boil until tender. Transfer to a blender, add a little milk, a knob of butter and some salt and pepper and whiz to a puree. Put in a bowl and put to one side.
3. In a saute pan, heat 1tbsp of olive oil and sweat the onions and leeks for a few mins. Remove to a plate and keep on the side. In the same frying pan, cook the mushrooms for a few mins until lightly golden. Put them to the side with the onion and leeks.
4. Place the fish and prawns/shrimp in a larger pan, cover with the milk and add the bay leaf. Poach for no longer than 4 mins. Remove the fish from the pan and put to the side but keep the milk, checking for any bones or skin. Remove if you find any, and decant the milk into a Pyrex jug as you are about to use it again.
5. In your big pan, melt the butter on a low heat and gently stir in the arrowroot until you have a roux. Slowly pour in the reserved milk. Add the herbs, onions, leeks, mushrooms and the fish. You could also add a slug of white wine here. Make sure everything is covered.
6. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and cover with the mashed celeriac. If you're making it all in one it needs only 10 mins in a preheated oven at 180ºC/160ºC/gas 4. If you're cooking the fish pie from cold, it will take about 30 mins.