Oh my cod!! Fish and chip pie.Gimmick or gourmet gorgeous?

I´m all for trying new things and this is a classic with added pastry!

Take two British staples, Fish and chips and pie.The mouth watering prospect of a mixture of two traditional favourites of British cuisine sharing one plate, in principle, seems great.
How many of us have put a dinner on the table for friends and claimed that we made it ourselves,when if the truth be known It was a Marks and Spencer ready meal.Well here is the situation in reverse,You steal the recipe of one of the aforementioned store´s best sellers,and make it yourself at home and probably took only a little more time to make than if you’d bought one and baked it for 35 minutes.So whether Remainer,Brexiter, frustrated expat or someone just wanting to dabble in a bit of British tradition,here´s one for you.Such fun!!
THE RECIPE
In the all-butter shortbread pie crust, we have a minted pea puree (mushy peas) topped with cod chunks in a tartare sauce and and topped off with a chip ‘lid’.Start with the tartare sauce.The point of tartare sauce has always been to provide a piquant contrast to the mild-tasting food it accompanies.
In one knife-sharp hit, this sauce of egg, gherkins, mustard and capers continually sharpens an appetite that would soon be dulled by mouthful after mouthful of crumbed or battered food. Traditionally the sauce exists to put some much-needed spark into fried, crumbed or battered fish. After years of service in the dented sauceboats of hotel dining rooms, tartare made its bid for wider appreciation with a brigade in the 70´s who pub lunched on scampi in a basket. But history has not been kind to our classic and if we are not mindful, accompaniments like this one will be in danger of becoming a rare species.The secret here is in finding the correct balance between piquancy and creamy blandness. Too much vinegar or lemon in the mayonnaise and the result will be harsh; too few capers or gherkins and the essential piquancy will be lost.While the exact ratio is a matter of taste, the sauce needs an unmistakable tang.
                                                    

30g butter
30g plain flour
300ml warmed milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, 
1 bay leaf (optional)

1 egg yolk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
juice of ½ a lemon 1 tbsp rinsed capers
1 tbsp chopped gherkins
2 tbsp chopped parsley
 Start by making a small quantity of classic bechamel (quantities above) Stir in the egg yolk,Dijon mustard,lemon juice, rinsed capers and chopped gherkins, plus 2 tbsp of chopped parsley. Check the seasoning – you want it to be piquant, but not acidic.

TO MAKE THE  PIE
Take a pie dish  6"x 4"x 3"deep (150cm x 100cm x 70cm)

grease it all over and line it with baking parchment

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
Make the chips by cutting enough potato to cover the top of the pie dish with chunky sized chip shapes. Then boil the potatoes in a saucepan of water for 4-5 minutes.
Bake in an oiled dish in a hot oven for approx 30 minutes, stirring regularly.
Meanwhile, roll out enough shortcrust pastry to line your pie tin. Prick the base and inside edges of the pie with a folk.
Line the inside of the Pastry with greaseproof or parchment paper. Pour in some baking beans and blind-bake for 15 minutes.
Also bake the Fish (cod fillets) in the oven on a grill tray for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the mushy peas by cooking the Peas in a saucepan of boiling water for 5 minutes. Then drain from their water.
Return the Peas to the saucepan, add some butter and mint then mash until you’re happy with the consistency.
Once cooked, remove everything from the oven and remove the baking beans from the pastry case.
Construct the pie by layering in the Mushy peas, Fish, Tartar Sauce, then top the pie off with the Chunky Chips.
Finally, place the pie back in the oven for a final 15 minutes to finish baking.
When the pastry turns golden and the chips are crisp, remove from the oven, cut the pie in half and serve straight away.