One of the earliest recipes I learned to make was fish pie. It is a good one for a learning cook as it includes a roux (cooked flour sauce that is the basis for many of the "Mother" sauces, such as bechamel) and a potato topping, common to many other pies (such as shepherd's or cottage pie, or even my Stephen's Day Pie).
It was always a dish that I enjoyed, and I would even order it out at restaurants if I saw it on the menu. If you like fish and you like potato then what is not to like! Until you no longer eat fish.
I have seen a few vegan variants online, many of which use mushroom, especially oyster mushroom, as the replacement for fish in this type of pie. I also love mushrooms, and include them in this recipe, but I have a different star for this dish.
In Ireland, one of the main ingredients I have seen used for fish pie is smoked haddock. As well as the fishy flavour it imparts a lovely smokiness to the dish. It also has a nice flaky, firm texture, and works very well. To try and replace it, there was only one candidate for me - smoked tofu, an extra-firm smoked tofu!
This recipe is designed as gluten-free, because that fits my household. One of the things that you need to watch out for with smoked tofus is that some are actually smoked, and some have a flavour added instead, and some are smoked and also have flavour added! Quite often that flavouring will include soy sauce, and unfortunately most soy sauce will have wheat in it! You need to really watch it like a hawk if you are cooking for people with gluten sensitivity. Shop around and check the labels. In this recipe I use a beechwood smoked tofu available from Lidl. It doesn't claim to be gluten-free on the label, but also doesn't list wheat or gluten as alergens either (which would be legally required in the EU). The World Open Food Facts site does list it as "no gluten".
Just a note on techniques here. My instruction is to shave the tofu into strips using a potato peeler, as I did in my Simplest Lunch Meat post. You can then chop these into smaller "flakes". You can, of course, just slice thinly with a knife if you prefer.
For the roux, I am specifying a gluten-free flour. If gluten isn't a concern for you, general purpose flour will work fine. A roux is, I think, more about the starches and not about gluten, so they can be interchangeable.
For the milk, I am suggesting unsweetened soy milk, but other non-dairy milks, or dairy if you are happy with that, will work fine. To change up the flavour even more, you could even use a veggie stock!
Ingredients
180g extra-firm, smoked tofu (e.g. Vemondo brand from Lidl)
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic, finely diced
4-6 brown (cremeni) mushrooms, sliced thinly
200ml unsweetened soy milk
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
1 tbsp gluten-free flour (e.g. Odlums, Doves Farm)
1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil
165g (drained weight) sweetcorn
(and/or 150g frozen garden peas)
Salt & pepper to season
Add the potatoes to a pan and add just enough cold water to cover them. Bring to the boil and cook until fork-tender. Don't drain the water, instead add 1 teaspoon of salt and a few glugs of rapeseed oil and mash until fairly smooth. Set aside.
Take off a one sixteenth-size wedge of the onion and add to the milk with the herbs and a good pinch of salt. Heat in a microwave for a couple of minutes. Set aside.
Use a potato peeler to shave the tofu into thin strips. Chop the strips into flake-sized pieces. Set aside.
Prep all the vegetables and have them ready to go. Once this gets going then it will move quickly.
Heat the tablespoon of oil in a saucepan over a medium-hot ring until it is starting to smoke. Add the flour and stir it in until it forms a smooth bubbling batter.
Keep stirring to allow the flour to cook fully. Once the flour starts to develop a slight colour then that is cooked, though you can let it get quite brown and that will develop a lot of flavour (a brown roux) - up to you to decide, but for this I prefer a lighter colour.
Throw in the onion and allow to cook for a couple of minutes. The flour will adhere to the onion (which will help with having no lumps later!) Add in the sliced mushrooms and stir in well, cooking for another couple of minutes in the hot pan. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute.
Pour in about a third of the warm milk and stir well, making sure that any sticking to the bottom of the pan gets scraped off quickly. After a minute, add in the next third and keep stirring. After another minute, stir in the last third. Allow to come up to the boil, keeping stiring and scraping the bottom. Stir in the corn (and / or peas) and bring back to the boil. Stir in the flakes of tofu. Once back to the boil, turn the heat down to low and keep stirring the mix for a couple of minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.
Add the mix to a roasting pan. Top with the mashed potato. Use a fork to create furrows in the potato, which create extra browning and flavour opportunities!
Roast at 180C for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden. If needed, turn on the grill (broiler) to finish off the browning.