Fish Pie For Kids {With Mashed Potato Topping}

Why Fish Pie For Kids? Because I've kept this simple and used only Salmon and white fish, two fish my kids like, snuck in only a handful of spinach and smothered the top in creamy mashed potato, sprinkled a little cheddar cheese on top and let the oven do the rest. It's delicious. And a winner if you're looking to add some fish to the kids diets!

Fish Pie For Kids

Fish was something I always sorta knew we should be eating more of, but somehow it never really happened.

Fish and chip take outs were something we had sometimes, but I never really knew what to do with fish, the bones concerned me and the kids would balk at the mere suggestion of eating it if it wasn't in take out form! So when we started eating Clean, or at least in the very early days when I began to experiment with home cooking and getting a feel for what the kids would willingly eat, it surprised me that there were indeed some fish they'd happily eat.

Okay...there's one kid who still isn't crackers on fish but if I keep it simple (salmon's a winner here and white fish) then I can push my luck and get them to eat a fish dinner pretty happily. And so I take that as a win!

This fish pie is the dumbed down, simplified and super kid friendly version I've ended up making for years now. And while it doesn't have the shrimp or the more exotic fish you often see in fish pies, it's budget friendly home cooked dinner and you know what? It's absolutely delicious!

I've added a handful of spinach to my fish mix because my kids like it but you could swop this out for peas if you prefer or even leave the veggies out all together and serve them as a side dish if you think your kids would like them better out of the pie.

You can also make this in mini pie dishes, lots of kids (and us grown ups!) love 'mini' things, just split the mixture in the mini pie dishes instead of using a bigger baking tin as I have.

The basic white sauce is a very simple roux, butter and flour gently heated to form a base to add your milk to and then thickens up over a low heat, and then really you can add in the fish that's popular in your house. Easy.

Make Ahead Fish Pie Mix

I cook my fish before I add it to the white sauce and bake the pie. Some people don't do this when they make a fish pie and while I know the fish will cook in the sauce when it's in the oven, I prefer to cook the fish and have it ready when I'm making this.

You can make this ahead of time and it becomes a really quick and easy dinner recipe if you have the fish cut and cooked and ready to go. If you have the mash already made it's even faster. I always make the white sauce fresh when I'm making this, it really does take only minutes to make and you can simply add the fish to the sauce.

More Fish Recipes You'll Love!

• Clean eating Salmon patties
• Leftover salmon frittata
• Easy butter lemon baked fish
• Grilled fish Tacos
• Any day homemade fish fingers
• Egg free Tuna patties
• Healthy Kedgeree breakfast recipe

What Goes With Fish Pie?

In the Summer months I serve this with a simple green salad. The fish pie itself, having a mashed potato topping isn't the lightest dinner in town and so to 'Summer it up' a little more a salad is fine.

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If it's colder outside and a warming hearty dinner is called for then as well as putting some veggies in the pie itself, usually spinach, sometimes peas, I also serve this with a side dish or two of veggies. Some buttered green beans, fried cabbage or slow cooked leeks are our favorites, but really whatever veggies your kids will willingly eat are fine.

If like me you're going to add a vegetable to the fish pie mix then this is a complete dinner in itself but when I make this, the weather tends to dictate what I serve with it.

Storing Fish Pie

You can store this fish pie on the fridge, covered, in the dish it was cooked in for up to 2 days. To reheat the pie, place your portion in a microwavable dish, cover with food wrap and reheat for 2 minutes until it's piping hot.

It makes an awesome next day lunch. I promise!

How To Make Fish Pie For Kids

Ingredients

• Fish Pie Mix
• 2 Salmon fillets Cut into small chunks
• 2 White fish fillets (I used Cod) Cut into small chunks
• 1 handful Fresh spinach Washed, you can also swop the spinach for peas
• Butter To grease the oven proof dish
• White Sauce
• 2½ tbsp Flour I use white spelt or buckwheat all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp Butter Salted
• 300 ml Milk
• Salt & Black Pepper To season
• Mashed Potato
• 4 Medium Potatoes Peeled and chopped into small chunks
• 1 knob Butter For the mash
• Cheddar cheese To sprinkle on top of the pie

Instructions

• Heat your oven to 200c or 390f depending on your oven
• To cook your fish, place the fillets in a piece of foil and seal the edges so no juice can escape. Cook the fish for 16-18 minutes depending on the size of the fillets. If you have cut the fish already the cooking time will be less, around 10-12 minutes. Remove the cooked fish from the oven and leave it in the foil until you're ready to use it
• Put a large pan of water on to boil and add the potato chunks to the pan when the water is boiling. Cook them until they're tender and then drain, add the butter, salt and pepper and mash until you have a smooth mashed potato. Leave to one side
• In a saucepan add the butter to make the white sauce and heat it until it's melted on a low heat
• Add the flour and use a wooden spoon to combine the butter and flour until you have what resembles a paste
• Cook the paste for at least 2 minutes, moving it around the pan to stop it sticking
• Add a ¼ of the milk to the paste and use a balloon whisk to combine. You'll have a very thick looking mixture, make sure there are no lumps in it and then slowly add the rest of the milk, little by little, using the whisk almost continuously to make sure the sauce stays lump free and smooth
• When you've added all the milk (if your mixture is still very thick you can add a little more milk, season the sauce with salt and pepper and then allow the sauce to thicken slowly, keeping the heat very low to stop it burning. The sauce will take around 3-4 minutes to thicken
• Take the white sauce off the heat and add the fish to it. Combine gently to not break the fish too much and then add the spinach and gently stir through
• Pour your fish pie mixture into the greased ovenproof dish
• Using two spoons, cover the top of the fish mixture with the mashed potatoes, creating an even layer across the top
• Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake for 20 minutes until the cheese is golden and you can see bubbling white sauce trying to escape through the mash!
• Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then serve!

Fish Pie For Kids Recipe