Seafood cobbler with potato dumpling crust

I had a craving the other day to make a fish pie. It started out wanting to be a pretty kitschy pot-pie style fish pie of shortcrust pastry, peas, potato cubes and carrots in a white sauce.

Because I am not particularly partial to shortcrust pastry the idea evolved first into a puff pastry crust and finally into this cobbler.

Cobbler has been a favourite winter treat of mine since I was wee. When I was quite small, no more than 6 or 7, my mother used to let me make peach cobbler. I had to use tinned peaches as we couldn’t get fresh peaches, even cruddy ones, this far north during wintertime in the 1970’s.  Some months I`d make cobbler twice a week! I absolutely adored (and still do) the hot, saucy filling topped with the best of both worlds: steamed dumpling and crunchy brown biscuit.

It seemed natural for me to marry my craving for fish pie with my love of cobblery perfection.

Once I‘d moved away from the standard short crust pot pie genre, I felt I ought to upgrade the fish, vegetable and sauce components as well. I arrived at, in order:  a mixture of white fish, scallops and shrimp, mushrooms and courgettes, and a white wine sauce.

I also removed the potatoes from the filling of the cobbler and re-assigned them to the topping on the theory that as shredded carrots make carrot cake extra moist, so shredded partially cooked potatoes would moisten up a traditional biscuity cobbler crust. I was right.  For those who like a light and fluffy, traditional biscuit cobbler topping, this is not the one for you. I, however, have long been a fan of the glorious contrast between the cobbler`s soft and moist dumplingy underbelly and crunchy top. The addition of potato makes the crust heavier than usual, but you are rewarded by a gorgeous, gooey dumpling with a perfectly crunchy top. If you are a traditionalist, just delet the shredded potato, add a cup more flour and enough milk to make the topping into a drop-scone consistency.

 

Serves 6-8

• 600 ml white wine
• 2 cups fish stock, reduced to 1 cup
• Bay leaf
• Cracked black pepper
• 450 g white fish fillets
• 250 g small peeled shrimp
• 250 g small scallops
• ⅓ cup flour
• ⅓ cup butter
• 3 garlic finely cut cloves
• 4 large finely cut shallots
• ⅓ cup chopped parsley
• Small courgette, thinly sliced
• 2 ½ c. sliced mushrooms
• 200 ml thick cream

Preheat oven to 425 º F. 

Over medium heat, simmer stock, wine and bay leaf for 5 minutes.  Poach fish fillets for 3 minutes in wine, until partly cooked and warmed through.  Remove fish fillets, cut into cubes and set aside.  In a second pan sauté courgette and mushrooms over high heat until browned, remove pan from stove and add a splash of wine to deglaze. 

Place scallops, shrimp, cubed fish, mushrooms, courgette and parsley into baking dish.

Sauté garlic and shallots in butter and then make roux by adding flour.  Remove bay leaf from stock and then add stock to roux and whisk.  Heat, stirring for 2 minutes, or until thick. Remove sauce pan from heat and stir through cream and cracked black pepper. Pour sauce over contents of baking dish and mix through.

Cobbler crust:

1½  cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup grated cheddar cheese

⅓ cup butter

2 potatoes, peeled and grated

2 tablespoons sour cream

Combine flour, baking powder, ½ of the grated cheese and salt in mixing bowl.  Rub in butter until the mixture is crumbly.  Set the remaining ¼ cup cheese for the top of the cobbler. 

Boil the grated potatoes for 4 minutes and drain in colander, rinsing with warm water.

Mix cooked potatoes and sour cream into the dough mixture.  Mixture should form a wet and sticky dough.

Shape cobbler topping into small pancakes with wet hands and distribute, overlapping slightly, over the top of the seafood mixture in baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Bake in centre of oven for 45 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

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