Recipe feature: Ocean Pie

this Summer's 'Ocean pie' with Norfolk Samphire

For those of you waiting on my cookbook... It's still coming along! I have very little time to add to it, but in order to keep you interested, here's the latest recipe; This month's 'Ocean Pie with Samphire!' A reinvention of a perennial favourite, based on a classic fish pie. There is a simple way to do this, cooking everything in a white sauce, but in order to do it properly, you need to break it down into separate processes, before putting the pie together. It's involved, but it's worth it!

This vegan version of a fish pie is designed to use your precious wild Norfolk Samphire (and make it go further!) If you don’t have Norfolk samphire, you can use alternatives from your supermarket or deli, or leave it out altogether. as I write, the Norfolk samphire season is drawing to a close, but it can still be found, or bought from your local fishmongers!

Ingredients:

2kg white potatoes

2 large or 4 medium sweet potatoes

1 pack of smoked tofu diced 15mm-20mm

250g Norfolk samphire

1 large shallot

Bunch of spring onions

1 green pepper chopped

200g oyster mushrooms

Bunch of fresh parsley

Fresh or dried dill

1 lemon

Whole grain mustard

Oat or soya milk

500ml plant cream

100g vegan butter

1 sheet of sushi nori seaweed, processed to a crumb

2 tbsp Nutritional yeast

Chickpea flour

Cut slits in one half of the sweet potatoes, place them on a baking tray in a medium oven for one hour.

peel and dice the rest of the sweet potato, spread on a baking sheet and toss in rapeseed oil, salt, pepper and a dusting of dried herbs, place to one side and add to the oven with 20 minutes left to go.

Peel the white potatoes and put them in a pan of salted water, bring to the boil and simmer until softened, turn off the heat, drain and return to the pan, with salt, pepper and a dash of ground nutmeg. Add 50g vegan butter and allow it to melt.

Add the diced sweet potato to the oven with 20 minutes left on the whole sweet potatoes, and they should both be cooked at the same time. Leave them to cool off.

Pop the samphire into a sink full of cold water to wash. Then remove the tough stems and roots, so you only have the tender parts left (should be just under half the original weight.)

Stir fry the oyster mushrooms with the spring onions and green peppers in butter, add salt and pepper and a splash of white wine until the mushrooms are just softened. Set aside to cool.

Make a Bechamel sauce with 25g butter, salt and pepper, and a tsp of wholegrain mustard; Melt the butter and fry the chopped shallot in the butter until softened, add the chopped parsley, add enough flour to absorb the butter and make a ‘roux’, then add a splash of white wine. Stir the wine in, and add plant milk, a little at a time, until you have a thick white sauce, finish with some plant cream. Add a handful of dill and the nutritional yeast, set aside to cool.

Make the mashed potato; This has to be smooth and creamy, so you can add plant milk or vegan cream as you go. First, peel the roasted sweet potato and add that to the cooked white potatoes, mash well, adding milk or cream until smooth.

Now, mix the sauce with the diced sweet potato, samphire, cooked mushrooms, diced tofu, and seaweed. Finally add the zest and juice of the lemon. Mix well, check and adjust the seasoning.

Fill the bottom of a shallow pie dish with the filling, and pipe or spoon a mashed potato topping. Bake for around 25 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the topping browning.