Fish Pie Recipe

I complained yesterday on Facebook about my two younger sons, who slept in and ate late yesterday (as I did), but then got all grumpy at me when I tried to insist they needed food at midday.

Uncooked pie

I really don't want to leave people with younger children the impression that teens and tweens are really that bad all the time. They have good moments and bad moments, just like younger kids. Although I do find that the good moments are more fun, because they are interacting with you on a level closer to being adult-type conversation and humour.

In any case, one really great thing about my teenage boys is that they love the food I make for them (much better than when they were younger). I get lots of positive response when I feed them food they love, and they like a lot more food than they used to.

Finished product.

The recipe I want to share with you today is my middle son's favourite main meal. It has been for a number of years now. We call it "Fish Pie" but you could call it Tuna Quiche. Whenever I'm making this I get a tremendous amount of "teen love". It has three of my boys' favourite things in it: cheese, eggs, and bacon.

It is a bit fiddly, because it has pastry, but it keeps well (even freezes). Last weekend I tripled the recipe because we had guests and it was great to enjoy the left-over pie last night with no more effort than heating it up in the microwave.

Pastry

1 cup plain flour

80g butter

1 egg

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1. Rub the butter into the flour (or use one of these cool pastry blenders). 

2. Moisten with egg and lemon juice. If it is too dry, then add a little bit more lemon juice. If it is too wet, add a little more flour.

3. Mix until it is a smooth dough, but don't knead for long, especially if the weather is hot.

3. Roll out to an appropriate size and place in greased pie dish. (Some hints for rolling is to use a flexible plastic mat and cover your rolling pin with stockings or tights, unused, of course. And use a good amount of flour to stop everything sticking.)

Filling

1 tin of tuna (no real measurement here, however much you want. You could also use salmon if you prefer that.)

chopped bacon (again, the recipe says two rashers, I usually use much more than that)

1 cup grated cheese

3 eggs

1 cup evaporated milk (or cream, but I never use it, another substitute I've used when I'm out of evaporated milk is ¾ cup milk and 3 tablespoons of water)

pepper if you wish

1. Spread tuna and chopped bacon straight on pastry. 

2. Top with cheese.

3. Beat eggs and evaporated milk together. Pour into pie dish.

4. Bake for 40 minutes at 180˚C. (This is the step I struggle with most, often I find it isn't set in the middle, so I have to cook it for longer or if I'm in a hurry, hasten it along with a stint in the microwave.)

You can double, triple, quadruple this to your heart's content. It cooks faster, though, if you cook it in separate dishes, rather than all in one large dish. Keeps well in the fridge and also freezes well. If you end up with too much pastry, uncooked pastry also freezes well in a ball.