Salmon and leek pie

Serves 4

(Jason Lowe)

This is a good way to use up tails and trimmings from a salmon – and the sauce is the same as the soup, except thicker. You could use a puff-pastry crust for this but I prefer mash, myself.

About 1 litre salmon stock (see the soup recipe)
450g salmon tails, skinned
70g butter
60g flour
2 medium leeks, halved, cut into rough 1cm squares and washed
2tbsp chopped parsley
2tbsp double cream
4 servings of mashed potato with about 50-60g butter mixed in
2tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs

Bring the stock to the boil and poach the salmon tails for 2-3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon and leave to cool on a plate.

Cook the leeks in the stock for about 2-3 minutes, then remove with a slotted spoon or drain in a colander over a bowl to reserve the stock.

Melt the butter in a thick-bottomed saucepan and stir in the flour and continue stirring on a low heat for about 30 seconds.

Gradually whisk in the hot stock to avoid lumps forming, season then simmer gently for about 30-40 minutes. The sauce should be really quite thick by now; if not, continue cooking until it thickens.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

Break up the salmon into chunks and mix with the sauce, leeks and parsley and re-season if necessary, then transfer to a large pie dish or individual ones.

Season the potato, then pipe on to the pies and scatter with the breadcrumbs. Bake for 20-30 minutes until browned nicely and the filling is hot.