Fishy Business . . . . .

Had a meeting that left me so mad I just have to rant. Went to a meeting today and had the gentleman completely ignore me!! While he was happy to shake the hands of my male colleagues he hardly even looked at me when he gave his salam to me!! I just hate interacting with people who assume that if you are a woman in a team of men you are there only for aesthetic or politically correct reason and not for substance. UGH!!!!!! He would hardly answer my questions!!! Sigh. . . sad but true that even good education, exposure just hasn't changed the mindset of many men in this country. I am just soooo annoyed!!!! Such is life. Ok I am done ranting.

The last few days I have been sharing some of my Chinese recipes, so I thought it will be nice to have a change of cuisine. This one is what I would categorize as a "Continental" recipe. You can make it calorie heavy or healthy and light depending on your mood.

Crust-less Fish-pie
Serves 4

Steamed fish flaked or canned tuna chunks flaked - 1 to 1 1/2 cups
Mushroom (Canned or fresh) - 3/4 cup (chopped)
Flour - 3 tablespoons
Garlic minced - 1 1/2 teaspoon
Milk - 1 1/3 cup (to cut calories use skimmed milk)
Butter - 2 tablespoons (substitute with margarine to cut calories)
Cream (optional) - 1/3 cup
Cheese (grated) - 1/3 cup (substitute with low fat varieties to cut calories)
Ground Black Pepper - 1 teaspoon
Potato (boiled and mashed) - 1 1/2 cups
Salt - to taste

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Marinate the Fish with some salt and little bit of lemon juice for 10 - 30 minutes. Steam the fish until the fish is cooked. Flake the fish and set aside.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon butter, add the mushrooms and sauté it for 2 minutes. Add 1/3 teaspoon pepper. Remove from heat and set aside. If you are using fresh mushroom, first boil the mushroom for 2 minutes, strain and chop.

Make the white sauce: Heat the butter in a pan, add the garlic and sauté for 1/2 minutes. Do not let the garlic turn brown. Lower heat and add the flour. Cook the flour until the raw smell of the flour is gone. Do not let the flour turn brown. Remove pan from heat, add one cup of milk all at once and stir vigorously to ensure you don't have any lump. Place the pan back on the stove, add the grated cheese. Make sure you keep stirring the sauce. Once the sauce thickens slightly (it will thicken once it starts to simmer), add the flaked fish, chopped mushroom, salt and pepper. Cook till the mixture is fairly thick. If using cream, stir it in 1 minute before removing the mixture from the stove. Set aside.

Add 1/3 cup milk, salt and pepper to taste to the mashed potato. Mix well to incorporate the milk and seasoning. The mashed potato will become soft and fluffy. To make my life easier, I usually use an electric hand mixer to do this.

Pour the fish mixture into a heatproof dish. Cover the mixture with the mashed potato. Make sure the mashed potato totally covers the fish mixture.If you want to go more fancy you can use a piping bag to pipe potato rosettes.

Place the dish in the oven and bake for 20 - 30 minutes (until the top is slightly browned).

Serve it with bread (toasted or buns) or crackers. It is good piping hot or at room temperature.

Enjoy!!

Note:
Any white fish will work. In Bangladesh that would mean fishes like Rui (carp), Aire, Katla, Tuna, Bhetki, etc.

If you end up with a lumpy white sauce, you can strain the sauce and rub the lumps against the strainer to get a smooth sauce. My father uses the blender to get rid of the lumps which also works great. Make sure your blender jar is heatproof or cool the sauce before blending.

If you don't like garlic, omit it. Just use a bit more black pepper or a mixed dried herb to flavor the white sauce.

You also make the pie in single serving heatproof dishes.