Sea Pie

Share recipes and tips, or memorable restaurant experiences here.
Post Reply
User avatar
drmoss_ca
Admin
Posts: 10731
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:39 pm

Sea Pie

Post by drmoss_ca »

Anyone who has read the Aubrey/Maturin series has come across this dish, although it is never described. Apparently it originated in France as Six Pâtes - six pastries - and was a multi-layered meat pie. In Quebec it began to be spelled phonetically as cipaille, and was adopted by the Brits as Sea Pie. Here's a fishy version, using mashed potato instead of all that pastry.

Line a greased oven dish with mashed potato. If you like to use the instant sort go for the herbed or garlic kind. Then fill with layers of various kinds of fish, with peas and a parsley/onion sauce.* Here's my first layer, with smoked cod:

Image

and with some peas and some sauce:

Image

Now with haddock on top of that:

Image

Then peas again, some more sauce and some more smoked cod:

Image

Then all the rest of the sauce:

Image

And a lid of more mashed potato:

Image

Sprinkle some parsley and black pepper on top (I would say cheese, but my son doesn't like it and I made this for him):

Image

Have some asparagus ready to steam - it will take 10 minutes only:

Image

Bake for 20 minutes at 425ºF, then give it 4-5 minutes under the grill:

Image

and serve (messy, but good!):

Image

*the sauce is easy. Melt a knob of butter in a pan over a low heat. Sprinkle two teaspoons cornflour through a fine sieve, mixing it as you go. Keep stirring or you get lumps. If you get behind, take the pan off the heat and work the cornflour into the butter. Once done, slowly add a cup of whole milk, just a bit at a time and keep stirring. Once all ingredients are in and mixed with no lumps you have made your first roux sauce!. Then add one small onion, finely chopped, and a handful of fresh chopped parsley, or 1/3 cup dried parsley (I used parsley from the garden that I dehydrated and it's still green but crumbly and dry). Keep stirring as the flour cooks. You can add a few drips of milk if too thick, or some more sifted cornflour if it doesn't thicken. If you didn't use garlicky mashed potato, some garlic flakes can go in now, and if feeling decadent replace some of the volume of milk with white wine. Once cooked (it loses the floury taste) take it off the heat and spoon it into the sea pie as you build it.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
pausted
Posts: 2535
Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 5:07 pm
Location: Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Re: Sea Pie

Post by pausted »

Ok Chris, it looks great and I intend to make it. One question. How much is a "knob" of butter? :)
Best regards,

Basil
ShadowsDad
Posts: 3121
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Central Maine

Re: Sea Pie

Post by ShadowsDad »

Looks good! I'd love it but the wife wouldn't just as strongly as I would like it. No way that I'd ever convince her to do more than smell it just by being in the same building.

Chris do you like Finnan Haddie? (sorry if we've discussed it previously) I will cook it for myself but few folks in Maine will touch it and my wife definitely won't. Maybe coastal Maine eats it.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
User avatar
drmoss_ca
Admin
Posts: 10731
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:39 pm

Re: Sea Pie

Post by drmoss_ca »

pausted wrote:Ok Chris, it looks great and I intend to make it. One question. How much is a "knob" of butter? :)
Well, that depends on your knob! Too much or too little just means adding more or less cornflour, and then more or less milk. You're always making a sauce as you go along and judging the thickness and adjusting quantities so it ends up right. I used a 1/4 cup knob.

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
User avatar
drmoss_ca
Admin
Posts: 10731
Joined: Thu Jul 08, 2004 4:39 pm

Re: Sea Pie

Post by drmoss_ca »

ShadowsDad wrote:Looks good! I'd love it but the wife wouldn't just as strongly as I would like it. No way that I'd ever convince her to do more than smell it just by being in the same building.

Chris do you like Finnan Haddie? (sorry if we've discussed it previously) I will cook it for myself but few folks in Maine will touch it and my wife definitely won't. Maybe coastal Maine eats it.
Always happy to have smoked fish - generally I abuse it by making kedgeree with it.

C.
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
pausted
Posts: 2535
Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 5:07 pm
Location: Rio Grande Valley, Texas

Re: Sea Pie

Post by pausted »

drmoss_ca wrote:
pausted wrote:Ok Chris, it looks great and I intend to make it. One question. How much is a "knob" of butter? :)
Well, that depends on your knob! Too much or too little just means adding more or less cornflour, and then more or less milk. You're always making a sauce as you go along and judging the thickness and adjusting quantities so it ends up right. I used a 1/4 cup knob.

Chris
Thank you. Now I understand. I thought that maybe a knob was a specific amount.
Best regards,

Basil
ShadowsDad
Posts: 3121
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:13 am
Location: Central Maine

Re: Sea Pie

Post by ShadowsDad »

That's a different smoked haddock recipe for sure Chris. I had to google it as I'd never heard of it before. No doubt I'd like it. I'd have to lie to the wife as to what it was though. Her mind simply can't handle fish of any sort.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
User avatar
TheMonk
Posts: 1216
Joined: Sat Aug 17, 2013 4:44 am
Location: Porto, Portugal

Re: Sea Pie

Post by TheMonk »

Oh my, that looks scrumptious!
David

“Use any means to keep from being a genius, all means to become one.” John Cage
Post Reply