‘I tried making a Pipe & Glass favourite following Michelin-starred chef James Mackenzie’s recipe’

The Pipe & Glass at South Dalton is internationally renowned for its delicious food along with its friendly welcome from James Mackenzie and his team.

What is less known is that East Yorkshire’s only Michelin-starred chef likes to give his staff a week off in spring to rest and recharge ahead of the busy summer season. When the Pipe & Glass closed in April, the eatery posted one of its recipes, saying: “We may be closed for our Spring break this week but here is James' recipe for one of our guest favourites you can try at home.”

With fish pie being one of my go-to comfort foods, I saved the recipe - intended to feed two - and recently gave it a go. Setting out to source the main fish ingredients, I headed for the Beverley fishmongers H Peck & Son, in Wednesday Market, to see if they could help.

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The recipe calls for natural smoked haddock, fresh salmon, pollock/cod and Scarborough woof/monkfish, in varying weights. The first three were no problem (cod being available as opposed to pollock) but a lack of the fourth either/or on my list presented a dilemma.

I asked the helpful lady behind the counter for her suggestion on what might be a suitable alternative. Hake was a possibility, she said, but she recommended halibut for the “nearest texture” to monkfish, although it is a pricey fish.

“You put good stuff in, that’s what you get out,” she said, as I agreed on a piece of halibut. Armed with my fish and a bag of James’ recommended Maris Piper potatoes, I set to with recreating the dish.

I’ve previously poached fish before using it in a fish pie, so it was a change to be cooking it in the oven, as per James’s instructions. It was easy to slide the fish portions, and the whole haddock fillet, off their skins, by cooking it this way, before cubing the flesh.

Making the sauce was simple, too (I doubt a Michelin-starred chef will use a cube for his fish stock but it’s what I had in) and I couldn’t get whipping cream so double cream stood in and worked perfectly. I admittedly went rogue on the recipe with my choice of fresh chervil for my mash topping, as it’s growing in my garden alongside the required dill.

I didn’t want to buy parsley especially, as chervil is noted as good with fish dishes anyway. I also slightly reduced the amount of English mustard in the recipe due to personal preference.

The result was a beautifully browned and bubbling cheesy-topped wonder of a pie – and far too much for me and my other half to devour in one sitting, hungry as we were. It was delicious, the chunks of fish stayed chunky and the sauce (I thought I’d overdone the quantity but my partner said not) was super-tasty, alongside the smokiness of the haddock.

Being able to enjoy the pie over two sittings brought down the cost per portion too (the fish cost a total of £16).