Fish Pie

My friend Gráinne was in New York for a few days and last night she came over for a feed of mash potatoes and fish. It was a bit of a busy day (picture me screeching at kids to stall Gráinne at the front door while I frantically raced around upstairs tidying hair, mess, and beds!) so I was glad I had settled on fish pie for dinner; it's one of those little-bit-of-prep-then-throw-everything-in-one-dish-and-go-clean-the-bathroom meals, perfect for entertaining on a weeknight. Perfect antidote to a shite-weather day.

6 potatoes, boiled and mashed
1lb salmon
1lb cod
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 pint heavy cream
2 handfuls of grated cheese
2 handfuls of spinach, steamed
2 eggs, boiled, peeled, and quartered
1 tablespoon mustard

Generously season your mashed potatoes with salt and pepper and set them aside.

Fry onion and carrot for five minutes, add cream to pan, and bring to a boil. Stir in your grated cheese and mustard.
I really do love that you can prepare the spuds, eggs, and spinach in advance, and then toss everything together when you're ready to eat with a "Here's something I prepared earlier" flair.

Slice cod and salmon into strips and arrange it in a casserole dish with steamed spinach and quartered boiled eggs. You can use whatever mix of fish you like—salmon and cod are not very fishy and therefore perfect for kids and friends who say they like fish "once it's not very fishy."

Add the creamy onion-and-carrot mix to the casserole.

Pile on the spuds. I like to sprinkle a little parmesan on top, too (because there isn't already enough fat in this!)

I was so busy reminding Gráinne that we first made this dinner together in Mrs. Guerin's Home Economics class many (ahem, many) moons ago, that I neglected to take a good picture of my dinner. I took this snap when we had already polished off half of it; trust me, it tastes better than it looks.