Walleyed pike pie

Ingredients

450g/1lb walleyed pike fillets (or halibut, haddock, flounder, snapper)
120ml/4fl oz dry white wine
300ml/10fl oz milk
900g/2lb potatoes, peeled and boiled
125g/4oz butter
1 egg
6 asparagus spears, cooked and puréed
freshly ground salt
freshly ground white pepper
450g/1lb spinach, washed, stems trimmed and sliced into 2.5cm/1in strips
½ lemon, juice only
parsley, chopped roughly
paprika

Method

1. Marinate the fish in a mixture of wine and milk for 30 minutes. The colder the marinade the better, it should almost have ice flakes on top.
2. Mash the potatoes adding 55g/2oz of the butter, 1 egg, the puréed asparagus and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Place the spinach in a large saucepan with the remaining butter, season with salt and pepper, put the lid on the pan and set over a low heat for 5 minutes. Give the spinach a good shake after 2 minutes to distribute the butter.
4. Place the pike fillets with the marinade in another pan, season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil, cover and allow to poach gently for 8 minutes.
5. Drain the spinach and place half of it in a buttered ovenproof dish. Add the drained fish and sprinkle with the juice of ½ a lemon. Cover with the rest of the spinach.
6. Cover the spinach with half of the potato, smoothing it with a spatula, then place the rest of the potato in a pastry bag (with a star shaped nozzle) and pipe the potato decoratively around the dish.
7. Slide under a preheated grill for 6 minutes. Remove and dust with parsley and paprika.

Tip:
Be sure to purée the asparagus well. Any strings left will clog the pastry tube.