Sweet Potato-Topped Fish Pie with BD Atlantic IPA

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe/beermatch, so here's something moreish before (hopefully) the Sun decides to make more of a permanent presence....

You will need:

1 small Onion, thickly sliced -1 pint Milk -300ml double cream
Fish – 1 piece of Coley, 1 Salmon Fillet, 150g Raw King Prawns
100g Butter -45g Plain Flour - Chopped Parsley, Salt, White Pepper -3 Large Sweet Potatoes - A little torn Spinach -1 egg yolk

Firstly, put the onion slices in a large pan with half a pint of the of the milk, the cream, and the fish. Bring just to the boil and simmer gently for 10 about ten minutes. When that’s done, remove the fish and onions onto a plate and pour the milk into another pan or jug. When the fish has cooled a little, break it up and flake into your baking dish/Pie dish.

Melt a couple of knobs of your butter in a pan, add the flour and when slightly cooked, take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the reserved milk. Return it to the heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time, making a thick, white sauce. Leave it to simmer gently for five minutes, stirring gently. When thick enough for you, stir in the parsley and season with a little salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Cover and chill in the fridge for 45 minutes or so.

In the meantime, peel and chop your sweet potato, and then boil until soft. Season lightly with black pepper, and mash with a little drop of olive oil. When the fish filling is cooled, spread the Spinach leaves on top, and mash ontop of that. Fork to make ridges, and brush a little some melted butter over the top. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200c for 40 minutes or until the top has turned nice and golden.

All done. Fish Pie's one of those dishes that everyone has their own version of. This is mine - I do occasionally like smoked fish in there too, but didn't want to overpower the sweetness of the topping on this occasion. And for goddsakes - use a fishmonger if you can. If in Leeds, there's no excuse not to get down to Kirkgate Market and see what's on offer.

I enjoyed this with an ever-so-slightly chilled bottle of BrewDog’s Atlantic IPA. It’s slightly oaky body gave a good, robust counterpart for the firm fish and sweet potato, and the bitterness that it carries cut through the cream nicely.