Louise Yang and Jeremy Hendon blog at Ancestral Chef, and I had the pleasure of talking with them at PaleoFX. They share a lot in common with Shou-Ching and I; you can read about Louise’s eclectic background here. Like us, they combine busy professional lives with a love of food, and try to create simple and easy to prepare but delicious meals drawing upon all the world’s cuisines. Louise has also defended the honor of the potato, which endears her to us. Louise has kindly agreed to share one of her favorite recipes. Here’s Louise!
Growing up in England, I was destined to love pies.
For those of you who haven’t visited England or Australia, when I say “pies,” I don’t mean the typical American dessert pie (although I have to admit a fondness for gooey apple pies); I mean the savory pies filled with delicious meats and with sauces oozing out from their starchy coverings.
From steak and kidney pies, to cottage pies, to shepherd’s pies – there’s pretty much a pie for every food you can imagine!
Well, I didn’t want being Paleo/PHD to distract me from my obvious pie-eating destiny, and so the coconut fish pie was born.
Note: The full ingredients list and instructions are at the end.
Preparing Coconut Fish Pie
Start by boiling 3 or 4 sweet potatoes (or potatoes) until they’re tender (check by pushing a fork into them). You can speed up the process by peeling and chopping the sweet potatoes (or potatoes) and then boiling them.
Blend the peeled sweet potatoes (or potatoes) in your food processor with 2 tablespoons coconut oil and 1/4 cup coconut milk until it turns into a nice mash. Put the mash aside while you make the rest of the pie.
Boil 3 eggs, and preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
Chop up 1 cup of carrots.
Chop up ½ cup of green beans.
And chop up 1 leek (approx. 1 cup).
Pour the rest of the 1 can (13.5oz or 400ml) of coconut milk (i.e., what you didn’t use for the mash) into a saucepan and heat on medium heat. Add in the chopped vegetables.
While the vegetables are cooking, cut approx. 1.5 lbs of white fish (I used tilapia) into 1-inch cubes/chunks (you can also substitute some prawns or scallops for the fish).
Place the fish into the saucepan as well.
Grate 2 teaspoons of fresh ginger into the pot (tip: store ginger in the freezer and grate some into your dishes when needed). Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cook for 5 more minutes on medium heat and then pour into an 8 by 8 pyrex oven dish or else into several small ramekins or miniature casserole dishes (4-8 depending on how large the ramekins are).
Peel the hard boiled eggs, and cut them into small pieces and place them into the dish as well.
Gently spread the sweet potato (or potato) mash over the top of the fish mixture so that the entire mixture is covered (it doesn’t need to be a thick layer). If the fish mixture has too much liquid, then spoon some of the liquid out.
As an optional topping to make the pie just a bit prettier, mix 4 tablespoons of coconut flakes with 2 tablespoons of melted butter (omit this if you’re dairy-free).
Gently sprinkle the coconut flakes mixture over the top of the mash.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes (you’ll see the sauce boiling and the coconut flakes will get a bit toasted). Leave to cool for a few minutes and serve!
Fish Pie Recipe
Makes 4-6 servings Preparation Time: 40 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
Topping:
- 3-4 medium sized sweet potatoes (or potatoes)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/4 cup coconut milk (leave the rest of can of coconut milk for the fish mixture).
- 1/4 cup coconut flakes and 2 tablespoons melted butter (optional topping)
Fish Mixture:
- 1.5 lb white fish (or prawns or scallops), cut into small 1-inch chunks
- Rest of 1 can (13.5 oz or 400ml) coconut milk
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- ½ cup green beans, chopped
- 1 leek (1 cup), chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Instructions:
- Boil the sweet potatoes (or potatoes) until they are soft (you can peel and chop them up if you want them to cook faster). Food process with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and ¼ cup of coconut milk.
- Hard boil 3 eggs.
- Pre-heat oven to 350F.
- Heat the rest of the can of coconut milk in a saucepan on medium heat. When it starts boiling, add the chopped carrots, leek, and green beans.
- Cut up the fish into 1-inch cubes/chunks and add to the saucepan.
- Grate some fresh ginger into the saucepan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 more minutes.
- Spoon the fish mixture into an 8 by 8 inch pyrex oven dish or into individual ramekins (4-8 depending on ramekin size).
- Peel and chop up the hard boiled eggs and drop them into the fish mixture.
- Spread the mash over the top of the fish mixture.
- For the optional topping, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and mix in 1/4 cup of coconut flakes. Sprinkle the coconut flakes mixture over the top of the sweet potato mash.
- Place in oven for approx. 20-25 minutes. Make sure after 20 minutes that the coconut flakes are not turning too brown.
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thanks for sharing this recipe. I am definitely looking forward to trying it out.
🙂
Sounds like a perfect meal – thanks for this! I love coconut, but my fiance doesn’t (can’t imagine!), so I might try this with milk/cream or milk and butter instead. Would also be good with peas which are PHD acceptable. I know the instructions didn’t mention peeling the carrots, but wanted to share what I recently read here http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/nutrition.html that it’s actually better not to peel carrots (more nutritious because of nutrients in the skin). I buy organic carrots, so I don’t worry about pesticides in the skin and just lightly rub/wash the carrots before cutting – so much easier than peeling!
We just made it tonight — we used shrimp and cod in place of tilapia, and a few other vegetable changes, and parmesan cheese in place of coconut flakes. It was great!
Thanks for the tip about the carrots, Connie. I think rinsing is enough.
A nice variation on shepherd’s pie and great example of recipe format with condensed, separate ingredient/instruction lists, servings, prep/cook times, plus pics – well done!
That was delicious!
It’s nice to see coconut oil included.
I have always loved the combination of coconut milk and fish. I love it more when it is spiced with a lot of garlic, and in the case to this dish, ginger. Thanks for this very interesting blend for a pie. I would love to try this real soon.
Tried this tonight….peas instead of beans and added some broccoli. Used a mix of white fish and shrimp. It was really tasty everyone enjoyed it. Thanks very much.
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Wow this looks really delicious! It’s something different and I can’t wait to try it out
Thanks for the recipe =)
I’m always looking for all-in-one type dishes that don’t load up with condensed cream soups or processed cheeses. This looks clean and healthy.
that looks yummy… thanks for sharing your recipe
I never thought of combining all of these ingredients together. You make coconut fish sound mouth watering and I’ve never really been a fan of sea food. One of my goals this year was to broaden my horizons and try more varieties of food. I’m going to use this recipe as a way to start expanding my pallet. Thanks for the inspiration.
Hey Paul. I have tried out your Coconut fish pie two days ago and i have to say it is really tasty! I am a big fan of coconut and fish in general, so i had to try it out as fast as possible. I will definitely implement it into my meal plan once at a time. Thanks for sharing.
delicious.I am going to try this recipe
have to try it next time.
sorry, a little late
i finally tried it &
i used taro for the crust (my favourite root veg). i think you can also add a little curry.
yummy,
have a great 2015
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Wow, this was so delicious. I used a seafood mix instead of just fish and it tasted just great, especially with the sweet potato mash
My 4 year old devours this and my sister is coming for tea tonight, Purely because i promised to make this!
This was very nice .I will make it again. The fish I used was Snapper and onion,carrot,cauliflower and peas as my veg. They were what I had on hand. Oh and I added two large carrots to my sweet potato mash to stretch it as I only had two smallish sweet potatoes. You really can do so much with this great recipe 😆
I liked this dish!! The cod I used has a mild flavor, so it blended so nicely with the other flavors in the dish. I was surpised at how buttery and creamy the sauce was. I used butternut squash on top since that’s what I had on hand. It was a very light dish and I plan on trying different variations. A salmon one is definitely in the near future!
This looks delicious, great way to get more fish into my diet!
thank you for sharing the recipe and easy to make
I made this a few weeks ago and it was yummy! My husband loved it. I’m back to get the recipe to make again 😀
This dish was really, really good! I love coconut so particularly enjoyed the inclusion in the pie!
How do you prepare white rice? Could you expound upon the steps?
Looks so delicious!
Looks amazing!
I am going to cook this for Christmas
I don’t eat dairy, so glad to find this recipe
Thank you
Thank you for the Coconut Fish Pie recipe! That’s the one!
Hi Paul, what is your opinion about smoked fish? I especially mean hot-smoked mackarel, is it safe and good source when you consider increase your fish intake?
I eat smoked fish, and enjoy it. If it smells good and was properly prepared, it will be fine.