When I began hunting through my The Naked Chef Takes Off the other day, looking for recipes that would be good to tackle this week, I had completely forgotten about my Cookbook of the Day back in August. In the comments, Daveybot had commented that Jamie Oliver's Fantastic Fish Pie was really yummy, and that's just the recipe I had picked. He was right -- it's delicious!

I have quickly grown to adore this recipe, and will probably make it a few more times this winter as a savory and warm seafood comfort. Simply: It's fish mixed with cooked spinach and hard-boiled eggs, which is placed into a baking dish, topped with a creamy sauce, and then topped with mashed potatoes. It seems like your regular old casserole, but it's got purr-worthy flavor.

If you prep it right, it's quite simple to make. Me, I didn't realize that the black cod I had picked up had bones in it, and found myself diving for the needle nose pliers in a rush to get those pesky bones out before my cheesy sauce cooled too much. Other than that, it was a breeze! This is one of those forgiving and adaptation-worthy recipes, asking more for handfuls than specific amounts. Sub in another fish, a different cheese -- it doesn't matter, as long as you give the flavor combinations some thought.

Hit the jump for the recipe!

Fantastic Fish Pie

Ingredients:
5 large russet potatoes, cut for boiling
salt and pepper2 large eggs (or a few more if you like hard-boiled eggs)
2 large handfuls of fresh spinach
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
extra-virgin olive oil
about 1 1/3 cups heavy cream
2 big handfuls of grated cheese (cheddar, parmesan, swiss, etc)
juice of 1 lemon
1 heaped tsp of English mustard
1 large handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 lb haddock or cod, de-skinned, pin-boned, and sliced into strips (or chunks)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

• Put potatoes in salted water, bring back to a boil for 2 minutes. Then add the eggs right to the pot and boil for another 8 minutes. While boiling, top the pot with a steamer and steam the spinach. (It will wilt very quickly.) Squeeze out the excess spinach moisture, drain potatoes and mash with evoo, salt, and pepper, and cool, peel, and quarter eggs.
• While the other pot is going, saute onion and carrot in a separate pan with some evoo for approximately 5 minutes. Add the cream, bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add cheese, lemon juice, mustard, and parsley.
• In your bakeware, mix the fish, spinach, and eggs, then pour the sauce on top, then spread on the potatoes. I chose to go light on the salt and pepper before, and grind it across the top of the finished product instead.
  
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are golden.