This recipe was inspired by my looking into the freezer this afternoon and seeing a bunch of the
salmon heads I'd bought cheaply. I was trying to think of something to do with them, and all of a sudden, I got this idea- fish pie! I'd never actually had fish pie, nor do I think I ever heard of it before, but I assumed it must exist. So I did some googling and came up with a bunch of different examples and vastly different ideas for fish pie.
Something that many had in common was some milk or cream. And since I didn't want to use just fish, I figured why not add a lot of vegetables, specifically the ones in my house that needed to be used up. I considered making almond milk or coconut milk for the fish pie but I was feeling lazy so decided to nix that idea, and I also decided to nix the crust.
However, I decided that in terms of flavor, I wanted to base my idea for fish pie on
chicken pot pie, only with fish instead of the chicken. And that I'd use nutritional yeast to give it a cheesy flavor instead of adding cream or a vegan cream type sauce.
At the last minute (literally last minute- after it was already in the oven!), I decided to add some almond meal to the top to fancy it up a bit, and justify calling it a "pie" even in the absence of a crust, but that was wholly unnecessary and just adds to the cost, so if you want to leave it out, feel free to do so.
I had this feeling it would come out tasty, but I did take a gamble. And it paid off. I think it's quite amazing. But since I haven't fed it to the entire family yet, I decided to ask Mike his opinion on it before I post it on the blog, so after he tasted it, his response was, I quote "Mmmmm.. very nice!"
I love when experiments work out nicely, and I have another cheapo recipe idea to add to my arsenal.
I literally just used the veggies I had in my house but the type you use really doesn't make a difference- use what you have in the house, whether its potatoes, mushrooms, green beans, fennel, sweet potatoes, or whatever- just use 3 1/2 cups chopped veggies total, plus onions, fish, etc.
If you don't have fish/can't eat fish/won't eat fish, feel free to replace the fish with either deboned shredded chicken or cooked chickpeas to keep it vegan.
Paleo Cheapo Fish Pie Recipe- Egg Free, Allergy Friendly, Vegan Option