I am the greatest hoomin

So Waffles was telling me last night.

Marina...

LOL. What a purrfect catslave.

I got some lovely fresh fish. Some salmon, prawns, smoked haddock & pollack
fillet. I made a fish pie.

So there I was gently poaching the fish in milk, and I then used the same
milk (now a milky/fishy stock) as the base for a white sauce with herbs.

All the while I had a certain one-eyed, black-furred, Queen Of All She
Surveys, winding round my ankles, purring, headbutting and telling me how
wonderful I am. I told said feline that once the fish was gently poached, I
would make sure she got some to taste... Her whiskers were extended out as
far as they could be, her eye *wide* open, her tail held high, the purrs
ever louder and my ankles ever more a Borg-like combination of human/feline
mix as she entwined herself round them. Do you know how difficult it is to
gently flake fish and make a smooth sauce whilst a feline is attached to the
ankles???

I put some flakes of each fish on a plate, along with a few prawns. Feline
comment was passed as the salmon & prawns were devoured, but the haddock &
pollack were left... go figure..

So I placed the fish in an ovenproof dish, coated it with the sauce and then
covered the lot in buttery mashed potato. I then sprinkled some herbs on top
and whacked it in the oven until the potato was golden & crispy on top.

It was delicious, if I say so myself. Served with carrots & broccoli on the
side. Nathan had two *huge* helpings. I put my plate down to go and get
Nathan a second helping... when I returned, guess who had taken that as a
signal that my plate needed to be thoroughly checked for wasted fish and to
make sure it wasn't wasted???

That cat loves her fish. Francis and Marble were not interested - but
Waffles will do anything for fish...

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)...

I gather "fish pie" is on the order of "shepherd's pie" -
topped with mashed potato instead of crust. (My mom's "meat
pie" here in the U.S. was generally topped with
baking-powder biscuit.) Your version sounds delicious -
care to share the recipe?

wafflycat...

Aye... & thanks :-)

No definite recipe as such, though.

I just get a few different kinds of fish that happen to take my fancy. Fish
must be skinned & boned. No shellfish other than prawns though (that's
prolly just me). Def. no squid or octopus (yuk!)

I poach the fish lightly in skimmed milk to which I've added only some
freshly ground black pepper. Don't over poach - fish should still be
translucent inside.

Take fish out of milk - place in bowl & flake: keeping it quite chunky
rather than finely flaked.

Use the milk the fish was poached in to make a savoury white sauce. Add
herbs... white wine... whatever takes your fancy.

Coat the fish in the sauce & place in oven proof dish.

Make some mashed potato that's got plenty of seasoning (a bit of salt
perhaps, but loads of black pepper, butter...)

Spoon the mashed potato over the fish mix. Can be as rough a surface or as
smooth as you want. I like it a bit rough... no comments, please!

Put in hot oven until piping hot and pototo golden & cripsy on top.

Serve with veggies of choice.

Tonight I did pork in apple with thyme, garlic & onions. Loads of veggies to
go with it too. The Men Of The House liked that one too. Nathan asked for
seconds of the... wait for it.... cabbage!!

Tomorrow I am taxi service in the morning, getting Nathan to & from his club
run. So I've got some slow cook beef in and I'll do my beef in Brown Ale, as
I can stick that in the oven to cook on a slow cook setting, and by the time
Nathan is back from a 50 mile bike ride, it should hit the spot.

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)...

It all sounds delicious! (Where did English cooking get its
bad reputation?)

wafflycat...

Gosh, thanks (blush)

The beef in brown ale went down particularly well with the ever hungry
teenage cyclist. Apparently today's club run was 2.5 hours at race speed,
and when he got home, food was required pronto, or neither cats, Vernon or I
would have been safe ;-) Said teenage cyclist wolfed down a huge plate of
beef in brown ale, with a side dish of sautee potatoes, carrots, broccoli &
lashings of the gravy produced by the beef & ale. He also wolfed down a
large portion of chocolate & vaniulla cheesecake, a chocolate shortbread and
a large cappuccino with vanilla & cinnamon sprinkled on the top....

Waffles sat in front of Nathan and gazed lovingly at him all the time he was
eating... so he cut up a small morsel of his beef into little slivers & put
it on a dish for Queen Of All She Surveys.... Waffles approved of this :-)

Cheers, helen s

polonca12000...

You are a great meowmie, Helen!
Best wishes,
Polonca and Soncek (who thinks it's I'm being terribly mean if I give
him any food that is not fish flavoured)

Cheers, helen s