Friday Pie-Day: Cod Potato Bites

I know - this might not be what you'd call a pie. Potato halves with a bit of filling and some breadcrumbs on top.

There is a story behind this though. And the story starts with a pie...

I came across this recipe for fish pie fillets, which are pieces of haddock with a prawn and cream cheese mixture over it, topped with crumpled-up filo pastry. They look pretty cute and I had bookmarked this recipe to try out ages ago.

This week, I've been laden with leftover soft cheese from my cheesecake experimentation, and felt it was a good chance to finally try this recipe out.

The thing is though is that I don't really like filo pastry. It's too thin and crispy for my liking and lacks the rich satisfying taste of other types. However, this recipe would lose its delicate nature if I'd have chosen to simply swap the filo with puff pastry for example. So I chose breadcrumbs. Yes, you can really see the logic behind my decisions can't you?

Yet, a slab of fish with a nice sauce and crumbs on top does not make a pie. It needs a bottom, a shell. And what better than a potato shell? I still wanted to keep to the original lightness of the recipe though and went for new potatoes. Now I've never stuffed new potatoes befoe and I'm sure you can imagine that stuffing those little buggers can be quite a tricky business. Plus, the empty potato shells are obviously smaller and you really can't fit in that much filling at all.

So the importance of this recipe is to make sure that you mix the filling up completely and season well, so that the teaspoon of mixture you add in is substantial enough in flavour and has a bit of everything. Having said that, you will probably want to just use half of the potato flesh altogether and put that aside for another dish. Me? I just mixed it all in anyway, stuffed my new potatoes and put the rest of the mixture into a mini flan tin to grill alongside them.

Cod Potato Bites

Print-friendly recipe

Makes 8 bites:

4 new potatoes
1 skinless, boneless cod fillet
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp soft cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper

1) Boil new potatoes til just cooked, but not too soft. Drain and cool.
2) Meanwhile, poach or grill the cod fillet til it flakes easily.
3) Mix the fish flakes with soft cheese, lemon juice, parsley and thyme.
4) Halve the potatoes and scoop out the flesh. (Put half away to use another day). Mix the flesh with the fish mixture and season well.
5) Scoop the mixture into the empty potato halves, scatter breadcrumbs over the top and grill for about 5-10 minutes.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures.