My week of posts celebrating comfort foods from the British Isles continues with this delicious seafood pie. Like the the corned beef hash and bangers & mash recipes, it features cauliflower as a low carb alternative to the traditional potatoes.
This is by far my favorite of the three recipes so far. When I researched traditional fish pies I found that some contained mushrooms, peas, carrots and/or other things I either didn’t find appetizing, or that increased the carb count more than I wanted. I decided to put a New England spin on it using the flavors of our famed clam chowder as a base.
I added Shrimp, Salmon and Swai (mild tasting white fish) for my seafood. I love chowder and since it features chunks of potato I figured a cauliflower “crust” could stand in for the potato in this case – kind of a deconstructed thing. This “pie” has all the elements of a delicious chowder but also something I didn’t expect – the cheesy cauliflower puree that I used on top added a subtle sweetness that tasted exactly like buttery ritz crackers like you might find in a baked stuffed shrimp!!!
It wasn’t until the last couple of bites that I recognized the flavor, but when I did it was like some kind of miracle! It wasn’t just an ok sub for a mashed potato top, it was so good that even if I add potatoes back to my diet at some point, I’ll always make this dish this way – it’s that good! I have no idea why it works, but it does and I already can’t wait to make it again! Hope you guys like it and can’t wait to hear what you think!
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Fisherman’s Pie – Low Carb and Gluten free
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup shrimp stock (boil the shells, strain off liquid)
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 slice raw bacon
- 1/4 tsp celery salt
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 4 oz salmon, 1 inch chunks
- 8 oz white fish, 1 inch chunks (swai, cod, haddock)
- 12 shrimp, peeled & de-veined
- 4 cups cheesy cauliflower puree
Instructions
- Combine butter and onion in a medium saucepan and cook on medium heat for several minutes until the onions have softened but not browned. Add the minced garlic and cook for about a minute. Pour in the white wine and shrimp stock (you can use chicken or veg stock if you don’t have it) and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the cream, raw bacon and celery salt and simmer for another 5 minutes until the bacon is cooked through and most of the fat is rendered out. (You can chop the bacon and add back to the chowder if you want but I didn’t because had already gotten the flavor into it but didn’t want the chewy texture so I just removed it.)
- Taste the broth and season with salt and pepper. Add the seafood and chopped parsley and simmer gently for just 2 – 3 minutes – you want it slightly underdone so it won’t overcook in the oven.
- At this point you can add the chowder to one larger casserole dish or four smaller ones. Put your cauli puree into a gallon sized ziploc bag or a pastry bag if you have one and pipe rosettes onto the top of the chowder. You can use a star tube if you have one but it isn’t necessary.
- Spray with nonstick spray or dot with small pieces of butter if you want and then bake it for 8 – 10 minutes at 400 degrees. If it’s not browning, don’t keep baking it or the seafood could get tough – just hit it under the broiler for another minute and it should toast right up.
- Garnish with more chopped parsley if desired.
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Carbohydrates: 4.5g net
It’s good. REALLY good! Enjoy!
Christina says
Oh my gosh, this was so delicious! And there was one of my most favourite foods, cheesy cauliflower :)
I was raised in the British Isles, and remember fish pie from my childhood, but of course it was much plainer than Mellissa’s gorgeous recipe. I’ve made this for my adult children, and there are never any leftovers.
Elyce says
Hi there, I noticed this recipe calls for 4 cups of cheesy cauliflower purée, in the recipe for the purée it takes one head of cauliflower to make 1/2 a cup, does that mean I need 8 heads of cauliflower to prepare the topping for this? That may seem like a dumb question because that’s what the math says but I figured I’d double check because that seems like a lot
Mellissa Sevigny says
A head of cauliflower makes about 2 cups so 2 medium heads or one very large one should yield what you need for this recipe.
Elyce says
Thank you! I didn’t realize you had responded and I figured out where I got confused. Thanks so much for all your delicious recipes. It’s really helped my boyfriend and I stay on track!
Elyce says
Nevermind. I see at the top it is listed as 2 cups and at the bottom it was listed as 1/2 a cup
Vickie says
This sounds delicious. Can I use seafood stock in place of shrimp stock?
Mellissa Sevigny says
I don’t see why not!
Sara says
No nutritional values!!! Argh! It looks like a few of the recipes I REALLY want to try are missing them.
Leah says
One word: AMAZING!!
Anon O. Miss says
Just made this for dinner this evening. I used frozen shrimp, scallops, and haddock from Aldi’s (unfortunately that’s all that fits in my college-student budget =P) and was super, super impressed with the flavor. I’m going to have to double the recipe next time because it was gone minutes after my roommates walked in the door! I’m not sure why, but I was expecting the broth to be slightly thicker than it was. Any suggestions on thickening it up a bit without flour? I also didn’t have cauliflower, so I just had the stew. *Really* looking forward to trying it with the cauliflower puree asap! Thanks again!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
When you make it with the cauliflower on top the mash bubbles into the broth and that’s what thickens it up nicely. I think you’ll see a huge difference when you make it again and use the mash this time – it’s also the mash that adds a subtle but delicious sweetness that offsets the seafood and bacon flavor. Let me know if you see a difference next time!
Elle Marie says
I have had really, really good luck using a small amount of coconut flour to thicken sauces – just a tablespoon, added to the fat (like you would with flour when making a roux) will help thicken things up and doesn’t add any noticeable flavor in the final product. A little coconut flour will absorb a lot of liquid, though, so err on adding less rather than more.
Tracy Altieri says
I am just going to have to get over my fear of cauliflower – this looks and sounds too delicious to not give it a try – I love, love, love seafood. Thanks for the inspiration!
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
Well if anything can help you get over your cauli-fear this is the dish to do it! yum!
Paul Halliday says
Mmmm … I love Fisherman’s Pie. I usually put a base layer of spinach and a layer of sliced boiled eggs just under the crust.
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
You lost me with the boiled eggs but the spinach I could handle! :)
Paul Halliday says
This might help: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/theultimatefishpie_87821
Mellissa Sevigny (sevimel) says
I like the fennel idea in that recipe but I would still omit the eggs because it ruins it for me – just a personal preference thing!