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| Not Quite Fish Pie |
Once again, thank you so much for the kind comments on the front yard! I spoke with M, today, and discussed putting down some paving stones and bark chips, but, no firm decisions were made.
Today has been a very windy day with strong off shore winds known as the Santa Ana winds blowing. The wind loosened the fiberglass roof panels in the sort of patio overhang that I have in the back of the house - daughter tried to nail them down, last time we had strong winds, and today, M nailed them down, again!
In the afternoon, I took the empty food containers and a freshly picked bunch of the Japanese purple mustard leaves to friend N, dropping them off at her doorstep. She called me, later, to thank me and we chatted for a bit. From there, I went to see friend R, to give her some lemons, purple mustard leaves, and a small packet of cookies. She gave me two packets of coriander seeds and a packet of lavash bread, a type of flat bread. I ate one of the lavash breads with some scrambled eggs for a late lunch, after I came home.
In the evening, I made the fish pie for dinner...well, sort of. First I made a sort of fish stew with bechamel sauce (the sauce I had leftover in the fridge turned out to be a bit too old, so I made some new sauce), green peas, carrots, two frozen pollock fillets cut up into pieces, and some leftover Brussels sprouts that were in the fridge (as I made this, I thought one could make a vegetarian version without the fish and with the addition of more vegetables) :
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| Fish Stew |
Then, I ladled a portion of the stew into two individual ceramic pots that I had been given as a gift several years ago (but, never used!):
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| Served into the Individual Pots |
They are handled soup bowls (I think), with matching covers; they say "microwave and dishwasher safe" on the bottom, but, they don't say if they are oven safe! So, I was afraid to top them with frozen puff pastry and bake them as I had planned! I didn't want the pots to explode in the oven and spew fish stew all over the oven! Instead, I baked two squares of frozen puff pastry by themselves:
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| Baked Puff Pastry |
And used them to top the fish stew before serving! I was going to serve one puff pastry square per serving, but, then, I decided I only needed one quarter of one (these things are not exactly low in calories!). Daughter decided that half of one would be enough for her. There is a little more of the fish stew left, so we'll have that with the remaining puff pastry for lunch, tomorrow.
Today, I am grateful for:
- M nailing down the fiberglass roofing panels
- Being able to share some of the garden produce with friends
- R giving me the packets of coriander and lavash bread
- A safe drive to and from the visits to drop off the containers and food
- A warm and comfortable home
Today's joyful activity was sharing garden produce with friends.
Plans for tomorrow include some housework and paperwork.
How was your Friday? What are your plans for the weekend?
My mother used to bake her pastry separate to place on top of a stew. I've never had to think if something is suitable for the oven or not but I agree it's not worth the risk if you're unsure. I do like fish pie, one of my favourite meals.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to know that others, too, have been known to bake their pastry separately! :) As for the containers I used, I tried to look online to see if they were oven proof, but, I didn't see anything and I didn't want to take the risk. They might be OK in a water bath, but, I think they are meant for soup, not pot pies! The fish pie turned out well and we both enjoyed it.
DeleteI never use puff pastries, but they always look so good when you do.
ReplyDeleteI like puff pastry, but, I like regular (short crust) pastry, too. Any particular reason why you don't use puff pastry?
DeleteNo. I just don't have anything that I make with them.
DeleteThat's as good a reason as any! :)
DeleteThe fish pie looks good. I use a mixture of fish pieces when I make fish pie (it's possible to buy packs of this mixture in the UK) and I add some prawns, top with mashed potato and sprinkle cheese on the top. Some people add hard boiled eggs to the fish mixture but I don't like that. Mum used to make a pastry topped fish pie as a change but used shortcrust pastry, not puff pastry, and that was just as nice.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen. I don't think we have any packs of fish mixtures for pies, over here. I like the idea of adding prawns to the mixture. My mother used to make the mashed potato topped fish pie when I was growing up, but, my daughter wanted a party crust (we had just finished our cottage pie and that had a mashed potato topping); I used puff pastry because I already had a pack of frozen puff pastry squares on hand. I was too lazy to make shortcrust from scratch! True confessions of a lazy cook! :D
DeleteYour comment about the possibility of making a similar vegetarian stew reminded me of an unforgettable dinner that we children were served when we went to another school to sit our eleven plus exams in England. We were served pie which contained a cheesy sauce full of vegetables. It was the most delicious school dinner ever.
ReplyDeleteI somehow slipped on the bottom 2 stairs this morning and hurt the toes on my right foot, so I am hobbling around for a while - a good excuse to put my feet up and rest after lunch.
Glad my comment about making a vegetarian stew/pie brought back memories of a pie you had at school, Bushlady. :)
DeleteOh, no! At least it was on the bottom two stairs and you weren't too badly hurt! But, please do put your feet up and rest! Hope nothing is broken. I remember how painful my toe was after I slipped in the bathtub, a couple of years ago!
Your fish dinner looks yummy, my mother used to bake the pastry separately when we had 'sort of meat pie', It was a lot quicker for her with us kids whining "we are hungry, Mum!"
ReplyDeleteI finished my commissions for the month on Friday, and yesterday just relaxed reading, no computer work! Today Sunday I just been to the Market, and plan to do some baking maybe date loaf and hopefully start writing my blog post for the week.
Thank you, Sharon. It was quick to bake the pastry while I prepared the fish. Glad to know that it was something your mother did, too (one other reader has said that her mother did the same thing!)
DeleteSounds like you are having a nice relaxed weekend. The date loaf sounds good. Hope you have a good day.
Hope R was thrilled with the lemons. Sadly I have no-one to bring me fresh lemons but I was pleased last week to find nets of 5 reduced from £1.60 to 50p! I bought some to try making lemon marmalade (silver shred, as it is sometimes known here).
ReplyDeleteYes, she was happy with the lemons, but, even more than the lemons, I think she was happy with the cookies I gave her! :D Sounds like you got a good bargain on the lemons. I've been planning to make a batch of lemon marmalade, myself, but, haven't done so yet.
DeleteThe marmalade is done! 16 jars, so I hope it is popular. It's darker than I had expected and tastes a lot like orange marmalade to me, but let's see. I'm not much of a judge as I don't like marmalade... What method do you use?
DeleteYay! That's a lot of marmalade, but, I'm sure it will be a hit with your customers. My recipe calls for soaking the lemon slices overnight and then, boil till soft, add sugar, and boil till it sets. The sugar does caramelize to a certain degree while being cooked and that darkens the marmalade.
DeleteI could see it was going to be a large quantity so I made 6 jars for family and friends, and 10 to sell. Of the 10 I am sure I will give some away as I like to surprise people from time to time - specially regular customers.
DeleteI'm sure your family and friends will enjoy the lemon marmalade and your regular customers will appreciate their free jars! I've sometimes used melted lemon marmalade to glaze my cakes - it gives a nice tang to the cake. :)
DeleteAll this talk of fish pie makes me want some!
ReplyDeleteYours looks really good and you were smart to bake the pastry separately - you never know, right?
As I've said before, I am not comfortable with puff pastry - I've tried using it but must've done something wrong because it was a disaster. The things you make with it always look delicious. I really should add it to my grocery order the next time it's on sale and give it another try.
I do sometimes buy the pre-made pie crusts (the refrigerated ones not the frozen ones already in the pie pan) which are nice to have on hand when I don't want to make my own pie crust.
I think I will make a quiche today with one such pie crust lol
I have some leftover veggies so I'm thinking that will be nice on this Sunday.
I'm glad M was able to nail those roof panels back up. I hope the fix holds.
Give puff pastry another try and see if you have better luck. I like the frozen ones because it is easier than making from scratch, which takes some time to make because you have to chill the pastry in between adding the butter to make the layers. Premade pie crusts are good, too, and using one for a quiche sounds good to me!
DeleteThe winds have stopped, today, and the roof panels are holding. But, they probably need to be replaced because M said they were starting to split when he nailed them.
That is a smart idea to bake the crusts separately. It's always tricky to know whether something will stand the oven. It's always better to stay safe. To be honest, the pastry would stay lovely and crisp that way, so it may be worth doing it like that again even with oven proof bowls.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lyssa. The pastry did stay crisp, which is how I like it. :)
DeleteHope the winds have subsided and there is no more damage.
ReplyDeleteThe fish pie looks and sounds delicious.
Thank you, Sharon. Yes, the winds have subsided and no real damage, either. :) The fish pie was a hit! :)
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