St Peter's Pie Recipe

Ingredients : Serves 4

450 ml/2 cups milk
1 bay leaf
2 pinches of grated nutmeg
2.5 ml/4 tsp ground mace
225 g/8 oz cod fillet
225 g/8 oz smoked haddock fillet
50 g/2 oz/0.25 cup butter or margarine

15 ml/1 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

15 ml/1 tbsp olive oil
30 ml/2 tbsp double (heavy) cream
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 hard-boiled (hard-cooked) eggs, sliced

25 g/1 oz/0.25 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
25 g/1 oz/0.25 cup Gruyere (Swiss) cheese, grated

Method :

Bring the milk to the boil with the bay leaf, a pinch of the nutmeg and the mace. Place the fish in a casserole dish (Dutch oven) and pour over the milk. Cover and cook in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes. Strain and reserve the cooking liquor. Remove the bones and skin from the fish and flake the flesh.

Melt half the butter or margarine, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in 300 ml/0.5 pt/1.25 cups of the milk and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Add the remaining nutmeg and season to taste. Keep the sauce warm, stirring occasionally.

Stir the remaining butter or margarine and the oil into the fish, followed by the cream, garlic and 45 ml/3 tbsp of the remaining milk and season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a pie dish and cover with the egg slices. Fold the cheeses into the sauce, pour it over the fish and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7 for about 5 minutes until the top is golden brown.