Dairy free fish pie (also free from gluten and egg)
Fish pie is surely up there as one of the ultimate family meals of all time. Warm and comforting, it can keep everyone happy; even the littlest family members! This dairy free version is delicious and I promise that you won’t miss the dairy at all. The pie is also free from egg and gluten x
Ingredients
- 750 g maris piper potatoes
- 25 g dairy free butter alternative (I use Pure olive) Plus an extra knob of DF butter for the mash
- 25 g gluten free flour you can use plain flour if you don't need the pie to be gluten free
- 350 ml unsweetened almond milk see recipe notes for nut free alternatives
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp dijon mustard
- 300 g fish pie mix (for example, a mix of salmon, white fish such as cod or pollack, and smoked haddock, all skinless, boneless & cut into chunks) see recipe notes
- 60 g frozen peas or sweetcorn
- 1 tsp polenta
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200ºc / 180ºc fan
- Peel and quarter the potatoes. Cover them with water in a large saucepan, then bring to the boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender.
- Whilst the potatoes are cooking, you can get going with the sauce. Melt the dairy free butter alternative in a large saucepan over a low heat. Stir in the flour, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring regularly. Then, add the almond milk, bit by bit. (gently heating the almond milk before adding it can help stop lumps forming - see these tips for a perfect roux). Keep stirring until you have a smooth sauce.
- Bring the sauce to the boil, then simmer and cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring regularly, until the sauce is thickened. Take the sauce off the heat, then stir in the nutritional yeast and the mustard.
- Get an ovenproof dish (I use a 20cm by 15cm dish for this). Spread the fish chunks over the base, making sure to double check for any bones. Then sprinkle over the peas or sweetcorn. Pour in the sauce, and give the whole thing a gentle stir.
- When the potatoes are cooked, drain them well and mash until smooth with a splash of the almond milk and a knob of the dairy free butter.
- Spoon the potatoes evenly over the top of the sauce mix, and run the prongs of a fork along the top - this helps to create lots of nice crunchy bits! Finally, lightly sprinkle the polenta over the top of the pie.
- Bake in the oven for around 40 minutes. You want the top to be golden and crunchy, and the sauce to be bubbling up at the sides!
Notes
- If you or your child has an allergy, always double check that the recipe and all of the components are suitable. This includes checking 'may contain' statements on each ingredient and making your own assessment of risk based on personal circumstances.
- To make this fish pie nut free, switch the almond milk to another plant based milk. Choose one with a mild taste; if I don't use almond then I tend to use oat milk.
- If you have mustard allergy this can be left out. You may want to add a little salt instead.
- I tend to buy a fish pix mix as it makes life much easier. However, the smoked fish is relatively high in salt, so for babies you can either choose a mix without any smoked fish, make up your own mix, or simply ensure their portion only includes the white fish and salmon when serving.
- This dish is ideal for batch cooking and freezing. I often make two pies at once, and put one in the freezer. To freeze, I fully cook the pie then let it cool, cover and put in the freezer. To reheat, I defrost overnight and then cook in a preheated oven at 200ºc / 180ºc fan for 30 to 40 minutes. You can cover with foil to ensure the top does not get burned, as it will already be quite crispy. If you want it to crisp up a bit more, You can remove the foil 10 minutes before the end. Always ensure the centre of the pie is piping hot before serving.