This Caribbean fish pie takes it’s inspiration from Levi Roots’ fish pie. Coconut and lime bechamel sauce surrounds the fish and prawns which are topped with creamy sweet potato.
This is a different sort of fish pie, which takes it’s inspiration from the Caribbean. A version of this Caribbean fish pie can be found in Levi’s Caribbean Food Made Easy, but I’ve changed the recipe in places. I’ve added the prawns and lots more coconut and a few other minor changes. It’s a delicious Caribbean fish pie and absolutely a meal in it’s own right, but you could serve it with a salad, the mango, avocado and coriander salad goes particularly well with it.
Caribbean sweet potato and coconut fish pie recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6
Ingredients
- 1300 g / 3 lbs sweet potatoes
- 560 ml (1 pint) milk
- Spring of thyme
- 800 g / 1 lb 12 oz white fish, cod, haddock, coley or a mixture of these
- 200 g / 7 oz prawns
- 110 g / 4 oz butter
- 50 g / 2 oz plain flour
- 200 g / 7 oz creamed coconut
- 2 limes
- salt and pepper
- 250 g / 9 oz leaf spinach
- good grating of nutmeg
- ¼ tsp allspice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Peel the sweet potato and chop into similar sized pieces. Boil in a saucepan of water until cooked, this will take about ten minutes.
- In another pan, add the fish, uncooked (grey) prawns and thyme to the milk and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and leave for five minutes while the fish cooks.
- Put a sieve over a jug and pour the fish mixture through it. Throw the thyme away and flake the fish into large chunks, discarding any skin from the fish.
- In a third saucepan melt 50 g butter and then add the flour. Cook for a minute or two. Then add in a little milk and stir to combine. Once all the milk has been absorb add a little more and continue doing this until all the milk is combined.
- Roughly chop the creamed coconut and add to the sauce with the juice of the two limes. Season well.
- Add the spinach and stir well, the heat of the white sauce will wilt the spinach.
- Put the fish and prawns into an ovenproof dish about 20 cm / 8” x 30 cm / 12” x 5 cm / 2” deep. Pour over the white coconut sauce.
- Drain the sweet potato well, mash and then mix in the 40g butter, the nutmeg and the allspice. Taste and season well.
- Top the fish mixture with the sweet potato mash and then dot with the last 20g of butter and bake in the oven for 30 minutes until brown in places.
Nutrition
- Carbohydrates: 62g per portion
Left over ingredients? Have a look at these other recipes:
Sweet potato
Sweet potato, cherry tomato and coconut soup
Sweet potato, goat cheese, ginger and spinach canapes
Creamed coconut
Sweet potato, cherry tomato and coconut soup
Want to learn more about creamed coconut click here.
We weaned our daughter on this fish pie at 6 months and 3 years later it’s a firm favourite. She even eats the spinach these days! We currently make it with ‘pink fish’ which works just as well. I also make this dairy free by using coconut milk for the white sauce.
★★★★★
Your 3 year old eats the spinach, wow you have made better progress than us! Good tip on making it dairy free with coconut milk, I bet that super delicious.
So good! Thank you for sharing this. Will be absolutely favourite for special dinner