Many years ago I was lucky enough to dine at the Oxo Tower for an office party and I decided before I went that I’d order something different for a change.
When I looked at the menu, the fish pie jumped out at me because it sounded delicious. It was rich and unlike any other fish pie I’d seen on a menu. With the inclusion of bacon and eggs, this was the fish pie of dreams.
This recipe is my attempt to recreate it, but in a simpler, healthier way. Best of all, it took 20 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes in the oven, which gave me plenty of time to clear up!
This is one of the many lean recipes that I’ve created where flavour and simplicity are key. There are hundreds of lean recipes in my app The Lean Cook with adjustable calories and macros.
Ingredients for 4 servings
| 600 g | mixed seafood |
| 200 g | peeled raw king prawns |
| 4 | whole eggs |
| 6 | streaky bacon rashers |
| 100 g | spinach, defrosted |
| 600 ml | semi skimmed milk |
| 2 | bay leaves, dried |
| 4 | whole peppercorns |
| 4 tsp | cornflour |
| 150 g | filo pastry |
| spray olive oil |
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 200°C fan/400°F.
- Boil the eggs to your liking. I prefer mine to be soft boiled, so I added large eggs to a pan of boiling water and left the eggs to simmer for only 5 minutes.
- After the cooking time has elapsed, leave the eggs to cool in cold water while you prepare the remainder of the dish.
- Take a large frying pan and put it onto the heat.
- When hot, dry fry the streaky bacon and set it aside.
- In this same pan, pour in all of the milk and add the bay leaves and whole peppercorns.
- When the milk is almost at boiling point add all of the mixed seafood and prawns to poach in the milk.
- Turn the heat down and place the lid on, being careful not to let the milk boil over.
- After a few minutes, the fish will be cooked and using a slotted spoon remove the fish from the milk and arrange it in the bottom of your oven proof dish.
- Squeeze out any excess water from the defrosted spinach and arrange it around the poached fish.
- Carefully peel the eggs and add these to the ovenproof dish along with the cooked bacon.
- Put the pan of milk you used to poach the fish back onto the heat and let it reheat but not boil.
- Add the cornflour to a small bowl and add 2-3 tablespoons of water, basically enough to dissolve the cornflour to pouring consistency.
- Slowly pour this into the pan of warm milk while stirring, and keep stirring until your sauce is lovely and thick. This should only take a minute or two.
- When you’re happy with the thickness of the sauce, remove the pan from the heat, take out the bay leaves and pour the sauce over the pie contents.
- Arrange the filo over the pie by scrunching it into balls before arranging.
- When the pie has been covered with the filo, give it a few sprays with the olive oil, 3-4 sprays should be enough and pop it into the oven.
- Bake the pie until the filo is golden brown, this took me approximately 20 minutes.
Recipe Notes
- I made my own seafood mix which included cod, smoked haddock and basa fillets, but feel free to use a ready made seafood mix.
- Because I used smoked haddock and smoked streaky bacon, the pie contents and the sauce didn’t need any extra seasoning, but feel free to adjust the seasoning to taste.
- If you don’t have frozen spinach, frozen peas would work just as well.
Maximise your Meal
The information in this section is designed to offer helpful insights on maximising
the benefits of your meals. Please note, it is not intended to replace nor does it
constitute personalised nutritional advice.
Prawns are hard to beat for what they give you: 9g of protein from 50g a serving, for roughly 39 calories and well under a gram of fat. Nothing else on this site has that ratio.
The spinach is worth more than it looks once it wilts down. 25g a serving carries about 0.5mg of iron and 0.7g of protein. Pair it with something acidic — lemon, lime, tomatoes — because the vitamin C helps your body take up more of that iron.
Semi skimmed milk quietly adds protein — 3.5g per 100ml, so your 150ml a serving brings about 5.3g. It is one of the cheapest sources of it in the kitchen, and worth remembering when a recipe looks light on protein.
The eggs bring around 6g of protein a serving and, importantly, the iron — a whole egg has 1.72mg per 100g against 0.01mg for the white alone. Egg whites are the leaner choice at 43 calories against 131, but you would be throwing the iron away.
Information correct at time of writing
Nutritional information source: McCance and Widdowson’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, gov.uk
Iron absorption source: Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, systematic review
Updated 15th April 2026
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