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FRENCH FOOD FOCUS Latest Post Other Posts Recent Older Truffles Cassoulet Index of Recipes L inks House Sitters FiFi About me About 'My' France Comments to: yankinparisot@gmail.com Archives		Life in rural France - Food - Friends - Wine - Cheese - Comments Welcome to French Food Focus. The name describes the intent of this blog. I'll focus on food and because I live in rural France the stress will be upon French food. There are numerous posts concerning life in France and, certainly, opinions about anything that strikes my fancy. If you have some good recipes or if you want to rave about any great French restaurants this is the place to do it. I hope you enjoy my ramblings about rural France! Click Here to send me a comment
		This is our village. Our house is the white one at the top right.
	Fishy Pie Linda is very fond of fish, me less so, but I decided to see if I could make her a fish pie that wasn't a real pain in the neck to do. Most of the fish pie recipes I read get all complicated with lots of pots & pans & steps. I decided that there had to be a better way or at least a simpler way to make a tasty fish pie. So, here's the recipe: Ingredients: (this pie fill a 12" shallow round baking tin) 1/2 pound scallops 1 pound white fish (any nice types of fish will do. Or salmon would be nice as well) 1 pound potatoes 2 medium size onions About 1 pint of milk or cream 2-3 tablespoons of flour 2-3 ounces of unsalted butter a good handful of chopped chives about a tablespoon of chopped fresh Thyme or the same of dried Thyme. Salt & Pepper to taste. On sheet of premade flaky pastry Method: Prepare everything. Cut the fish into bite sized pieces; Peel and cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces, chop the onions up finely. chop the chives & thyme. Boil the potatoes until they are just soft. Melt the butter in a large frying pan then gently sauté the onions until they are soft. Add the flour to the pan & stir well until it just starts to color. Add milk or cream, stirring until it thickens. Keep adding & stirring until you have enough thick white sauce to half fill the pan. Add the fish & stir. You may want to add the white fish then wait 2-3 minutes before adding the scallops. Add the drained potatoes & stir. Add salt & pepper to taste. add the chives & stir in. Continue cooking, stirring, until the fish is cooked through. Butter the baking dish then pour in the fish mixture & spread it around evenly. Sprinkle the thyme over the top. Lay the sheet of flaky pastry over the top, trim the edges and pinch the edges to seal. Optionally; brush the pastry with milk or egg yolk & decorate with little fish shapes. Bake in a 375 degree F oven until the crust is nice & golden brown. All you have to do is serve this piping hot. I added a handful of peas (frozen) just before putting the pastry lid on because they look nice & add a bit of flavor. The verdict? OK, but not brilliant. It needed more oomph in my opinion. Next time I think I'll do it with shrimp or prawns as they have stronger taste. Also, I'll add a bit of Dijon mustard to the white sauce and, perhaps, a few capers. Still, it was pretty good as was and very easy to make; far less fussy than most recipes I've read. Have a go and feel free to innovate and/or comment.