This salmon and hake fish pie with creamy sauce is surprisingly straightforward to make
Angela Patrone Senior Lifestyle Reporter and Shania King-Soyza
09:10, 15 Jan 2026
Mary Berry's fish pie is a creamy, comforting delight featuring salmon, hake and a rich white sauce, all topped off with a golden, crispy potato crust. This oven-baked dish is perfect for a family meal or for entertaining guests, thanks to its deep flavours and hearty filling.
Despite its impressive presentation, this fish pie recipe is surprisingly easy to whip up, and the combination of fish adds a wonderful depth of flavour without the need for advanced culinary skills. Instead of topping the fish sauce with creamy mashed potatoes, Mary Berry suggests using crushed potatoes.
This not only saves you the effort of mashing a heap of spuds, but also results in a golden, crispy potato top that might just steal the show.
It crisps up beautifully with just a splash of olive oil, and the soft chunks underneath absorb the lemony, creamy fish filling perfectly.
What's more, because there's no tricky piping or spreading of mash involved, it's a much quicker dish to assemble on a busy evening.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 75g of butter, plus extra for greasing
- One large leek, sliced
- 50g of plain flour
- 600ml of hot whole milk
- One and a half tablespoons of chopped fresh dill
- Finely grated rind of half a lemon
- Salt and pepper
- 400g of hake fillet, skinned and cubed
- 400g of salmon fillet, skinned and cubed
- 200g of fresh spinach
For the topping
- 800g of new potatoes, scrubbed
- Two tablespoons of olive oil, plus two teaspoons for drizzling
Method
Begin by greasing a 1.7 to two litre baking dish. In a large pan, melt 50g of the butter. Add the sliced leeks and cook for three minutes. Stir in flour and cook for one to two minutes.
Gradually whisk in hot milk and stir until thick. Add dill, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Gently fold in the fish and cook on low for two minutes. Pour into the dish and allow to cool slightly.
In a pan, gently wilt the spinach in the remaining butter. Once wilted, drain, chop and layer over the fish.
Next, boil the potatoes for a quarter of an hour before draining and crushing them. Use a fork to crush the potatoes into rough chunks rather than a smooth puree. Stir in the olive oil, salt, and pepper for added flavour.
Spoon the crushed potatoes over the spinach and fish layers. It's important to let the fish mixture cool slightly before adding the potatoes to maintain the right texture and prevent sinking.
To finish, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top and bake at 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas Mark 6 for 30 to 40 minutes until it turns golden and starts bubbling.