Hapuku and scallop pie

Tamara West

Veloute is a wonderful French sauce that uses stock (rather than milk) and is often finished with cream and a squeeze of lemon juice. I have used hapuku, but use any firm-textured white fish and add some raw prawn cutlets as well if you like.

Ingredients

6	Potatoes, small, I used baby red jackets
4 stems	Silverbeet, chopped
50 g	Butter, plus 15g to cook fish
¼ cup	Flour
500 ml	Fish stock, heated
100 ml	Double cream
600 g	Fish fillets, firm, skinned and boned and cut into 3cm pieces (Main)
300 g	Scallops
100 ml	White wine
¼ cup	Parmesan cheese, grated
1	Lemon, for squeezing

Directions

1. Boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and cut into even-sized rounds.
2. Steam, or cook in a small amount of lightly salted water, chopped silverbeet until tender. Drain well and squeeze to remove any excess water.
3. Heat the oven to 190C. Lightly grease a medium-sized oven proof baking dish.
4. Melt the butter in a heavy-based sauce pan and stir in the flour and cook until a pale straw colour (blond roux). Pour in the hot stock, stirring or whisking continuously until thick. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drizzle cream over surface of the sauce to prevent a skin from forming and set aside in a warm place while you cook the fish.
5. Melt the remaining 15g butter in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add fish and quickly brown on both sides (you are just sealing the fish here). Transfer to a plate and quickly brown the scallops, then transfer to plate. Pour 100ml white wine into the hot pan and allow to bubble and reduce (this is to burn off the alcohol), then pour into the sauce.
6. Stir the reduced wine and cream into the sauce and add the fish, scallops and silverbeet. Spoon into the prepared baking dish. Top with the potato slices and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
7. Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes until golden and the fish is just cooked. Serve with lemon for squeezing.