The Cottage Smallholder

Photo: individual cod and scallop pie

Danny and I took advantage of some cheap Ryan Air tickets several years ago and spent a long weekend in Paris. The tickets cost under £50 but the long weekend notched up a giddy £800. And most of this was spent on food. Even though the days were financially balmy we were shocked how expensive Paris could be. But we still savour the memories of those meals and the wonderful restaurants. Whether they were local bistros catering for a small coterie of French clientele in the know, or larger more formal establishments where food was celebrated and conversations hushed.

It was in one of the latter that Danny was served a superb dish. Described haltingly by the waiter as,
“Monkfish and red wine sauce… With meat.”
The meat turned out to be some sort of bacon and the combination of sauce and monkfish was divine.

We have been experimenting with food recently – coming up with some good combinations but most of our new recipes need a bit more tweaking before they are unveiled to the world. Danny has been perfecting roasting beef and lamb in Andrew https://www.cottagesmallholder.com/andrew-james-premium-halogen-oven-plus-accessories-a-review-6482 – both seemed excellent to me but Danny insists on cooking them again – just to make sure. He is an Alpha carnivore after all.

This week I was panning for gold in the freezers and found a cod fillet and a pack of scallops (without roes but bought from the Tesco CFC* in a moment of madness). I spotted some streaky bacon in the fridge and came up with this pie. Unusual and delicious it would feed 3 greedy people or 4 with a starter and pud.

Scallops, bacon and cod pie

Ingredients:

Pie base:
300g of cod fillet (skinned)
200g of scallops
150g of rindless streaky bacon sliced into 1-2cm sections
500ml of thick béchamel sauce (made with 50g of butter 75g of plain flour and 450ml of milk)
Half a teaspoon of garlic granules, a large pinch of cayenne and half a teaspoon of anchovy sauce

Topping:
450g of potatoes. Peeled and sliced
2 tbsp of milk
1 large knob of butter
Large handful of grated mature cheddar (or goat’s cheddar)
Loads of Ground white pepper
Method:
Prepare the béchamel sauce. Meanwhile fry the bacon pieces gently until they are crisp and simmer the potatoes until they are soft.
When they are ready mash them or ideally pass them through a potato ricer and add the butter, milk and freshly ground white pepper. Set aside in a warm place.
When the béchamel sauce has thickened add the crispy bacon slices and stir. At this stage also add the garlic granules, anchovy sauce and cayenne pepper.
Using the bacon fat in the frying pan flash fry the cod – literally no more than ten seconds a side. Remove to a warm place and fry the scallops very fast so keep your eye on them all the time – they just need to be opaque. Shred the cod and add this and the scallops to the bacon and béchamel sauce. Season to taste. Put the meat and vegetables in a pie dish and spoon over the mashed potatoes. Roughen the surface with a fork and sprinkle over the grated cheese. Grill for five minutes or so until golden brown.

*CFC = Condemned Food Counter (our term for discount shelves in supermarkets)