"Cooking With Pudding"
(Cue theme music - brass band plays "On Ilkley Moor")
Hi Folks! It's me Yorkshire Pudding and today I am making Yorkshire Fish Pie.
Turn on your favourite radio station and grab a couple of medium-sized leeks. Top and tail and inspect for soil residue. Coarsely chop up the leeks and chuck in a deep frying pan where a big knob of salted butter had already been melting. Season with a little salt and a little more black pepper. Just soften the chopped leeks.
Grab some milk from the fridge and pour a pint or so in a saucepan. If you prefer you can instead warm the milk in a jug in your microwave. Get a handful of plain flour and toss it over the leeks, stirring in. Then add the hot milk and stir until you have achieved a smooth creamy consistency surrounding the leeks.
From the supermarket or fishmonger you bought two lumps of filleted haddock. One was plain and the other was smoked. You cut them into little chunks and squirted some lemon juice over them. Now is the time to add these fish chunks to the leeky sauce you have prepared. Blend in evenly and allow to simmer for two or three minutes. At this point you might like to add a herb such as dill or parsley - fresh is best but dried will do.
Pour into a ceramic cooking dish a-la photo above. Allow to cool and then cover with cling film or aluminium foil. Whack it in the fridge for an hour or two.
If you need the toilet, now is a good time to go. Remember to wash your hands.
Make a medium pan of mashed potato. I shall not insult your intelligence by explaining how to prepare mashed potato but for this particular dish I will ask you to throw in a handful of grated cheddar cheese during the mashing process - maybe a little cream if you have any spare.
Get the cooled ceramic cooking dish from the fridge and carefully layer mashed potato over the fishy leek mixture. Try to cover the fish. Then sprinkle a layer of grated cheddar cheese over the mashed potato topping.
Pop it in a hot oven for forty minutes.
You will need some green vegetable to go with your fish pie. Last night we had garden peas from the freezer but green beans or broccoli would also be good. I always steam such vegetables in te microwave.
Turn the radio off and go and watch The News on television while you wait for the pie to warm through. More images from Peshwara. To assassinate schoolchildren like that - if there were a God watching over us - which of course there isn't - there is surely no way he could approve of such heartless slaughter in his holy name. The world is going mad, completely mad. Like John Lennon, all that we are saying is - Give peace a chance! But we are waiting for the next atrocity. We know it will happen - somewhere, some time, somehow.
"..We should be together/Come on all you people standing around" (Jefferson Airplane)
Time for fish pie methinks. Back to the kitchen. Never eat good food from your knees or lap while watching television. Eat it at a table without distraction. The best drink to accompany my Yorkshire Fish Pie is a mug of tea with milk added and sugar if you like it. Enjoy!
I must say, YP, I am very impressed with your fish pie. Looks delicious. Don't agree with you about the God thing (not so sure I believe the Jesus story though).
ReplyDeleteBon appetit!
If you meet God let me know, only then might I believe in him. I have heard that he used to live in North Newbald with a widow called Irene...or was that Rod?
DeleteI will let you know if I meet God and whether she has a Yorkshire or a Glasgow accent.
DeleteSo, I would guess by your proud story and picture that this is about the only thing you know how to cook without help from Mrs. Pudding? Am I right? If so, it is one more thing than the Big Bear knows how to cook.
ReplyDeleteAs this is the anniversary week of the killing of 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook, I am sure that those bright, god lovin', gun-lovin', bible beating Americans are saying that guns did not kill those children in Pakistan, but people did. What a crock!
And, how can they look at all this suffering and killing in the name of their god and say that their god watches over everything and knows everything and that these atrocities are somehow the will of their god? Just disgusting!
Oh Mama Thyme you have hurt me to the core and now I am the victim of your unwitting sexism. I do most of the cooking in our house. Not baking - Just the main meals of the day.From spaghetti bolognaise to green Thai curry and from steak and onion pie to stir fried pork. I love to cook and besides Shirley works most days. It's nice for her to come home to a good meal Get Big Bear a simple recipe book and an apron for Christmas. This is 2014, not 1814.
DeleteDidn't mean to hurt your feelings, Mr. Pudding. I was just joking! I know that you are the most progressive of husbands and Mrs. Pudding is very lucky. As are you to have her. Now, how do you make steak and onion pie?
DeleteNow you really are joking you naughty girl! I would have to write a whole new post to explain steak and onion pie.
DeleteThyme, you know the bible beaters believe their god only cares about christians. And maybe jews, once in a while, when it suits them.
ReplyDeleteFish pie? Same category as fish tacos. I'd rather have the fish on the side, by itself. But your pie is quite lovely YP. Do you have a good supply of local seafood? It would seem likely, Britain being surrounded by the sea. But California has a very long coast line and most of our fish seems to come from Thailand or Chile. Shipped a month ago.
There's a fishmonger five minutes walk from this house - lovely fresh fish but for a fish pie defrosted fish would be okay.
DeleteYou should write a cookbook! I like your directions as you put a little humor in it. It also seems like more male type directions.
ReplyDeleteRed - I make sure I include no specific quantities or temperatures etc.. Cooking is not about mathematics, it is bout taste, imagination and passion.
DeleteUmm ~ we don't have haddock in the Southern Hemisphere. Could you suggest a substitute fish for you "slower" readers ~ Yes Chef Bloomingbigyorkshirepuddingthals!
ReplyDeleteI guess that any meaty white fish could be used Carol. The thing about smoked haddock is that it has a strong smoky flavour that adds to the tastiness of the base. Just follow my guidance and chuck in your own fish. Barramundi? A handful of prawns. Look in the frozen fish section in your supermarket for some ideas.
DeleteOh yum, looks lovely. Wish we could have it for tea here but Tony doesn't eat seafood and I'm not enthusiastic about cooking two separate meals. I always have it when in England though many pub examples are fairly light on the fish part !!
ReplyDeleteA YP cookbook would be good.
A YP cookbook? Now there's an idea... Tony doesn't eat seafood? Oh dear. What if he had been born on a Pacific island? There he would have had to eat seafood. I am sorry that your experience of pub food fish in England has not been brilliant. Next time go to a working class fish and chip shop Up North and fill your face with cod and haddock and a pile of hot, golden chips. Tony can have a small tub of mushy peas with a plastic spoon.
DeleteTough crowd hanging around your fish pie today, Mr Gravy. I believe in both God and Jesus, though I rarely try to cram it down anyone's neck. I also refrain from nasty comments about/to those who believe differently. It'll all pan out in the end and we'll all find out who was right. In the meantime, I'm not partial to fish, but would substituting chicken offend the recipe, do you think? Maybe a nice big pan of fluffy, lightly browned biscuits oozing with melting butter alongside? And chuck the tea. Coffee all the way. Never have been able to stomach tea.
ReplyDeleteI can see how nice pieces of cooked chicken could substitute but the taste of the base might then be a little bland. Sorry if I have offended you regarding Big G and JC. I don't entirely subscribe to the idea that everybody is entitled to their own opinion. What about those inhuman Taliban assassins in Peshawara? Were they entitled to their opinions?
DeleteNow, now. You must re-read my post. I said that I refrain from nasty comments about those who believe differently......I did NOT say that they are entitled to their opinion nor that they are right in their actions. Good grief, what a thought! Would that the masses had upright morals & ethics. Deep subject. What did you make for dessert after your fish pie?
DeleteDessert? Humble pie Hilly! Humble pie!
DeleteNow that looks very tempting; very delicious, but it will have to wait until winter down this way. It's far too hot at the moment for hot meals...I'm living on fresh fruit and salads...too hot and steamy for anything else, unfortunately. Saves on the power bill, though! :)
ReplyDeleteI doubt that you possess the culinary skills required to replicate my fish pie Lee.
DeleteThe pie looks great, I can almost smell it! Anything with spuds in makes me happy. I get far too little of that, being so lazy in the kitchen myself. Only when I have someone who will share the meal with me am I ready to cook, and then I can make some really nice things, too. These days, I have been on my own more than usual, because RJ is moving from his tiny flat to a bigger one and has been busy with that most weekends.
ReplyDeleteI can just picture you doing a cooking show on telly, with the brass band music at the beginning, and your comments all the way through (yes, the political ones as well). It would be highly successful, I think.
There would be a guest slot in my cooking programme..."And now let's go over to Meike in Germany. Today she's making a little known German dish - sauerkraut and sausages. Hi Meike!"
DeleteYou have a good fishmonger five minutes from your house? Unfair! However, he should have reminded you to put the salmon and prawns in as well. :)
ReplyDeleteSalmon and prawns? Then it wouldn't be Yorkshire Fish Pie - it would be Posh Fish Pie!
DeleteI love fish pie. Please post some if there is any left.
ReplyDeleteDid you carry it next dorr for the photo or make an effort and polish the hob?
I grate carrot and celeriac into fish pies and don't make a Bechemal sauce. The last one did turn out a bit runny but it all disappeared so no worries.
Grated celeriac? Who the ell do ye think ye are Adrian? Philip friggin' Harben?
DeleteCeleriac is horrid but acceptable in a fish pie. It is cheap. It's like a white Turnip and has bobbly bits. I cut them off.
DeleteI use it as a thickener as I do carrot and potato. All add flavour and much better than flour.
Never heard of Philip Harben. Who the Cluck is he?
Google him Adrian. The first British TV celebrity chef.
DeleteCooking not only fish pie but cooking up a comment storm as well. Or should that be stirring? Well done Mr Pudding and an elephant stamp for the lesson in personal hygiene.
ReplyDeleteMs Soup (fish today)
This post does seem to have released a few demons Ms Soup! I guess that is what the aroma of fresh fish pie arouses or was it unbridled jealousy?
DeleteYour recipe inspired me to concoct a batch of vegetable beef soup in the crock pot last night. It was wonderful. No fish, no potatoes, no cheese, but wonderful anyway. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteErr ...so you didn't make a fish pie? Glad to have inspired you in this contradictory manner Jan. Now I am going over to your blog to see photos of your vegetable beef soup. Cannot wait.
DeleteSnap! We had fish pie yesterday too. Dunno how it was made though as I know next to 'nowt about cooking, but I'll get the missus to have a look at your recipe.
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise Brian! I never thought that you were a male chauvinist pig, sitting in your armchair watching football while your missus slaves over a hot stove! Tha's not in Barnsley now tha knows!
DeleteInternet ain't big enough for me to list all the chores I do while Silvia does the cooking - and football isn't on the list!
DeleteI'd love to know how you can be sure that the fish is from Yorkshire (or its seaward environs).
ReplyDelete