Rukmini Iyer's quick and easy recipe for harissa and gnocchi-topped fish pie

The Guardian

09-06-2025

I love fish pie, and gnocchi, and harissa, so what could be better than a combination of all three? Particularly if it saves you 15 minutes' boiling and then mashing some potatoes. Bookmark this for chillier summer evenings – I'm determined to eat as many meals as possible outside right now, and this will keep you warm when the temperature dips to an unseasonal sub-15C.
Use your favourite type of fish, or add some prawns, if you like.
Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
250ml milk
50g rose harissa – I like Belazu
100g cream cheese
1 tsp sea salt flakes
260g sustainably-sourced cod, or other white fish, cut into roughly 3½cm chunks260g trout, cut into roughly 3½cm chunks150g frozen peas, defrosted500g gnocchi (fresh or vac-packed)20g salted butter
100g cheddar, grated
Put the milk, harissa, cream cheese and salt in a large saucepan, turn on the heat and whisk until the cheese melts and is thoroughly incorporated. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a bare simmer – just the tiniest bubbles should break the surface, otherwise you'll boil the fish. Add all the fish and leave to poach for 10 minutes. Add the peas for the last two minutes. Once cooked, the fish should very gently flake apart when cut with a fork, but still neatly hold its shape.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fish to a pie dish or small roasting tin, then scoop out the peas and scatter over the top. Bring the harissa milk mix back to a boil, drop in the gnocchi and cook for two minutes. Then – and stay with me here – you're going to hold a colander over the fish dish and pour the harissa milk through it on to the fish, leaving the gnocchi in the colander. Stir the butter through the gnocchi in the colander, then tip the gnocchi evenly over the contents of the pie dish.
Turn on the grill to medium-high, scatter the cheese over the gnocchi, then grill the fish pie for three to five minutes, until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling – this may take slightly more or less time, depending on how fierce your grill is, so keep an eye on it. Serve hot with a glass of something cold alongside.