Company's Coming Seafood Pie

Seafood casserole covered with mashed potatoes and garnished with fried leeks

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5 from 1 vote

Prep Time35

Cook Time1 15

Total Time1 50

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 585kcal

Author: Carolyn Hetke

Ingredients

1 small head fennel
1 ½ cups 18% cream
salt
2 lbs potatoes peeled and cut into 2" cubes
8 oz celeriac peeled and cut into 2" cubes
½ cup unsalted butter divided ¼ and ¼
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 egg yolks lightly beaten
freshly ground black pepper
1 medium onion halved and thinly sliced
½ cup vermouth
⅓ cup flour
1 cup milk
4 Tbsps herbed cream cheese (I used Garlic and Fine Herbs)
1 lb large shrimp peeled, tail off and deveined
1 lb salmon fillets
½ lb cod fillet see Recipe Note #1

Fried Leek Garnish (optional)

1 leek thinly, thinly sliced white part only
olive oil to cover leeks

Instructions

Fennel Cream

Remove stalks and fronds from fennel. Chop and reserve fronds. Discard stalks. Cut fennel bulb into quarters and transfer to a small pot. Add the cream and season with salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat and simmer covered for 20 minutes until fennel is tender. When cooled a bit add the bulb and ¼ cup of fennel cream to the blender. Puree until smooth. Reserve the puree and the remaining fennel cream. The puree is going to go into the potato topping and the remaining cream will go in the seafood base.

Topping

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potato and celeriac cubes and cook about 25 minutes until tender. Drain and allow to sit in strainer a few minutes so they are good and dry. Pass through a potato ricer or mash finely in a large bowl.
Melt ¼ cup of butter gently in the microwave and add to the potato mixture along with the fennel puree. Then add the nutmeg, lemon zest and egg yolks. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Seafood

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut fish and seafood if necessary into about 1" pieces so they are fairly uniform. (Shrimp and bay scallops if using can be left whole). Gently squeeze any excess liquid from the seafood using your fist over your sink. Transfer to a paper towel. This is especially important if any of you seafood has been defrosted.
Melt remaining ¼ cup of butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the onion and allow to cook about 10 minutes until translucent. Add the vermouth and increase the heat to medium high. Cook until no liquid remains. Then sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir to coat the onions.
Take 1 cup of the reserved fennel cream and add to the pan slowly, stirring constantly. Once the fennel cream is smooth add the milk, whisking until it is incorporated and there are no lumps. Bring to a boil and cook a few minutes to thicken. Add the cream cheese and reserved fronds. Stir till well combined.
Spray a 9 X 13" deep baking dish with cooking spray. Distribute the seafood mixture evenly in the bottom of the pan. Add the hot cream mixture and stir to coat the seafood. Spread of pipe the potato mixture over the top.
Bake about 45 minutes. If the potato topping has not browned sufficiently broil 4-5 minutes til it starts to turn brown.
Note: If you serve this in individual ramekins or scallop shells check for doneness after 30 minutes.

Fried Leek Garnish

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Test with a small piece of leek. Oil should sizzle when leek hits it. When oil is hot enough fry leeks until they turn golden brown 5-7 minutes. Remove leeks with slotted spoon and transfer to a paper towel. Sprinkle evenly over casserole. (Retain leek-flavoured oil for another use such as salad dressing or for frying).

Notes

Note #1- you can use any 2 ½ pounds of seafood of your choice that go well together, shrimp, scallops, lobster, salmon, cod, trout - whatever suits your taste. Note #2 - You can make the fennel cream and the potato topping a day ahead and refrigerate. You will not be able to pipe cold potato mixture but you can warm the mixture gently in order to spread it on top seafood base. Note#3 - To reheat from frozen bake at 350 degrees covered with foil for 45 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake another 25 minutes or so.

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