Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 small onion, thickly sliced
- 2 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 600ml/1 pint milk
- 300ml 10floz double cream
- 450g/ 1 lb unskinned cod fillet
- 225g/8oz undyed smoked cod fillet
- 4 eggs
- 100g/4oz butter
- 40g/ 1 ¾ oz plain flour
- 5 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley
- freshly grated nutmeg
- 25kg/2 ½ lb peeled floury potatoes
- 1 egg yolk
- salt and freshly ground white pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan-oven/Gas mark 6
Stud a couple of the onion slices with the cloves. Put the onion slices in a large pan with the bay leaf, 450ml/15floz of the milk, the cream, cod and smoked cod. Just bring to the boil and simmer for 8 mins. Lift the fish out onto a plate and strain the cooking liquor into a jug. When the fish is cool enough to handle, break into large flakes, discarding the skin and bones. Sprinkle it over the base of a shallow 1.75 litre/3 pt ovenproof dish.
Hard boil the eggs for just 8 mins, then drain and leave to cool. Peel and cut them into chunky slices and arrange on top of the fish.
Melt 50g/2oz of the butter in a pan, add the flour and cook for 1 min. Take the pan off the heat and gradually stir in the reserved cooking liquor. Return it to the heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring all the time. Leave it to simmer gently for 10 mins to cook out the flour. Remove from the heat once more, stir in the parsley and seasoning with nutmeg, salt and white pepper. Pour the sauce over the fish and leave to cool. Chill in the fridge for 1 hr. Boil the potatoes for 15-20 mins. Drain, mash and add the rest of the butter and the egg yolk. Season with salt and freshly ground white pepper. Beat in enough of the remaining milk to form a soft, spreadable mash.
Spoon the potato over the filling and mark the surface with a fork. Bake for 35-40 mins, until piping hot and golden
