Fish pie with vermouth velouté

Method

• step 1

  Start with the velouté. Heat a knob of butter in a pan, add the shallots and fry gently for about 10 minutes until soft but not coloured. Pour in the wine and vermouth and boil until reduced by half.
  Add the stock and bring to a simmer, keep bubbling until you have half the amount again. Each time you do the reduction you concentrate the flavour of your final sauce.
  Stir in the cream and simmer until your sauce is about as thick as double cream, it’s important that the velouté has a bit of body or it won’t stick to the fish. Season and strain.

• step 2

  Heat the oven to 180c/fan 160c/gas 4. Pull any stray bones out of the fish, you should be able to feel them by running your fingers over the flesh. Cut all the fish into large chunks, halve or quarter the scallops and cut them through horizontally if they’re very large.
  Add the herbs to the fish as whole leaves and pour over the velouté. Fold everything together gently. Pour the peas into an ovenproof dish and then add the fish mixture. Put the halved eggs on top and season.

• step 3

  Roll out the puff pastry until it is a little bigger than the top of the dish. Brush the edges of the dish with a little of the egg yolk to help the pastry stick. Roll it around the rolling pin to pick it up and then unroll it over the dish and smooth it down over the fish.
  Press the pastry down into the edges and against the sides of the dish to seal them. Trim off the excess using a sharp knife and then crimp the edges using your fingers. Brush the remaining egg yolk over the pastry, this will give a deep golden-brown colour when it cooks.
  Season with ground black pepper and scatter with the thyme leaves. Pierce the pastry to let some of the steam out and to help the pastry cook from underneath. Bake for 40 minutes until crisp, golden and browned on top.