Salmon Pie with Crispy Pancetta

   

   

Brrrr…bacon.  It’s still cold outside, and I’m still on a bacon kick.  I recently prepared a special meal for a loved one featuring her favorite food: bacon.  It’s winter outside, and so I wanted everything to reflect the season and provide a hearty, warming glow.  I served first the butternut squash with apple and bacon recipe that I featured yesterday.  But, what to do about a fish course?  I find that recipes wrapping fish in bacon tend to overwhelm the fish.  We’ve all tasted those ubiquitous appetizers with bacon wrapped shrimp or scallops.  I personally find them gross.  I’ve even had a more delicate wrapping, such as prosciutto, around a larger piece of fish, such as monkfish.  Still, the pork flavor overwhelmed.  For this meal, I wanted and needed something more.  This recipe from the Daily Mail UK newspaper last year suggests the quintessential British comfort food of a meat pie.  In a sense, it is a shepherd’s pie with fish instead of ground lamb.  Is this cheating on my bacon theme to just lay strips of pancetta on top of a dish?  Maybe so, but the idea of a seafood shepherd’s pie certainly made me feel warm inside.  This recipe builds upon a bechamel sauce and milk-poached salmon with smoked salmon for an extra layer of flavor, and shrimp for additional bite.  The salmon stands up to the bacon, the mashed potato topping adds that pot-sticking component, and the bacon on top allows you to select in which bites you want to include a bacon taste or just savor the salmon.  Serves 6.

   

Ingredients:

2 lb salmon filets, skin left on

1 cup milk

1 bay leaf

8 tbsp butter

¼ cup flour

½ cup dry white wine

1 cup crème fraiche (or ½ cup crème fraiche and ½ cup milk)

1 tsp dijon mustard

6 oz sliced smoked salmon, cut into 1/2” pieces

1 lb shrimp, peeled

¼ cup chopped parsley

3 lbs potatoes, peeled

2 egg yolks

3 oz sliced pancetta

    

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Bring a large pot of salted-water to boil.  Meanwhile, in a large pan, add the salmon filets, bay leaf and milk.  Add more milk if needed to cover the thickness of the filet.  Bring to a simmer, cover partially and cook for 4 minutes.  Add the potatoes to the pot of boiling water.  Remove the poached salmon from its pan and cut the meat from the skin.  Pull apart the meat into bite-sized chunks and set aside.  In a medium pot over medium-high heat, melt 4 tbsp of the butter.  Stir in the flour and mix to make a roux.  Allow the roux to cook a couple of minutes and then whisk in the wine.  Whisk in a cup of the cooking milk, mustard, ½ cup crème fraiche and cook for 10 minutes, stirring to ensure there are no lumps.  Add more of the cooking milk if needed to produce a smooth sauce.  Taste and adjust the salt and pepper seasoning.  Fold in the poached salmon, smoked salmon, shrimp and parsley then turn out into a baking dish.  When the potatoes are cooked, drain, run through a ricer, and then combine with 4 tbsp of melted butter, the egg yolks and enough crème fraiche or milk to produce a smooth mashed potatoes.  Smooth the mash over top of the fish mixture.  Bake the pie in the oven for 20 minutes. Lay the sliced pancetta across the top and bake another 25 minutes or until the pancetta is crisp.  Serve.