What to Serve With Fish Pie? [16 Tasty Ideas]
Fish pie is a popular comfort food made out of mashed potatoes, cheese sauce, and fish. I love to eat it more than I love making it, though. It is a versatile dish that allows you to adjust the recipe to your taste by adding various types of fish, seafood, and even tomatoes, pies, and broccoli. And this is my favorite part of the fish pie experience. So, what to serve with a fish pie?
Serve your fish pie with garlic bread, deviled eggs, or stuffed mushrooms as a starter. Sauteed spinach, garlic parmesan with roasted asparagus, Mediterranean or garden salad, sweetcorn and peas, and glazed carrots are perfect for a side dish. Sweeten your fish pie with cannoli, lemon cheesecake, or a sorbet.
Dishes like fish pie leaves space for creativity, allowing you to make a combination that will elevate your meal to the next level. In the following text, I will introduce you to some ideas for appetizers, side dishes, sauces, drinks, and desserts that will help you do just that.
What Appetizer to Serve With Fish Pie?
If you are planning to serve fish pie as a main course in the meal, make sure to pair it with suitable appetizers. Here are some of the best starters for this dish:
Garlic Bread
Garlic bread is a safe option since it matches well with numerous meals. It is light, crispy, and aromatic, which makes it a great choice to whet the appetite. It’s also so easy to make that I love making it at home.
This appetizer takes about half an hour to make and includes the following ingredients: rustic crusty bread or baguette, several garlic cloves, butter, parmesan, or some other gratin cheese, and parsley. All you need is to preheat the oven to 400 °F, melt butter with minced garlic and parmesan, spread that seasoned butter over the bread, and bake it for 15 minutes, or until the corners of the bread become golden brown.
Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are a foolproof starter for any meal. They usually include three ingredients: eggs, mayonnaise, and mustard. All you need is to boil the eggs, take out the yolks carefully, mash them and mix them with mayo and mustard, and refill the shells.
Still, this appetizer leaves a lot of space for creativity. I like adding chives, black pepper, dill, minced garlic, sour or sweet pickles, sour cream, hot sauce, and even avocado and salmon to the yolk mix. You can also garnish it with paprika, parsley, crispy bacon, or jalapeno, and turn deviled eggs into a fancy dish that suits everyone’s taste.
Stuffed Mushrooms
Another amazing appetizer for a fish pie is stuffed mushrooms. This delicious dish is quite versatile. It has numerous recipes, and you can even create your stuffing.
My favorite is the blandest possible version — the one with a stuffing that includes cheese, garlic, minced onions, mushroom stems, and seasoning. You can also add some olives, bacon, and finely cut sausages, or try a vegetarian version with roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, and artichoke.
What Side Dish to Serve With Fish Pie?
Choosing the right side dish can affect how your entire meal turns out. Since fish pie contains potato puree and cheese sauce, both of which are pretty heavy, you might consider serving it as a light side dish, such as cooked, baked, or roasted vegetables or a salad.
Sauteed Spinach
Sauteed spinach is a nutritious, healthy meal that takes no more than 10 minutes to prepare. All you need is olive oil, butter, garlic, baby spinach, salt, black pepper, lemon juice, and a good pan or wok.
To prepare this meal, melt olive oil and butter, add finely cut or minced garlic, saute for several minutes, throw in baby spinach, season it with salt and pepper, and turn around in the pan until completely wilted. Sprinkle lemon juice over it, and this dish is ready for serving.
If you find this dish a bit too simple, you can also add crispy bacon, gratin cheese, fried mushrooms, or baked nuts. It’s even better than the raw one!
Garlic Roasted Asparagus
Garlic-roasted asparagus is another simple meal that matches well with fish pie. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to prepare ingredients such as olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and asparagus.
Once you have all the ingredients, clean the asparagus and put it into a baking pan. After that, mix garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Use this mixture to coat the asparagus and throw it into an oven preheated to 400 °F for 10- 15 minutes. Add some lemon juice before serving, and enjoy crispy and tender bites.
Mediterranean Salad
If you wish to serve a fish pie with a fresh side dish, Mediterranean salad is one of the best options. It takes only 10 minutes to make. All you need is to chop tomato, cucumbers, and onion and season it with salt, olive oil, and vinegar (optional).
Sweet Corn and Peas
Cooked sweet corn and peas mix is a plain dish, yet it matches well with meals such as fish pie. To prepare this dish, you will need peas, sweet corn, olive oil, little butter, garlic, and salt. You can also add chilies or minced shallot, but that is optional.
Glazed Carrots
Glazed carrots are another easy-to-make, foolproof side dish with high nutritious value. This meal is a source of potassium, vitamins A and C, and calcium. [1]
To prepare this dish, you will need brown sugar or honey, minced garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and carrots. Just peel and cut the carrots, coat them with the mixture made with the rest of the ingredients, place them in a pan, and roast for 15 minutes. Before serving, I usually garnish the carrots with leaves of fresh parsley.
What Sauce to Serve With Fish Pie?
Fish pie is a creamy meal, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid serving it with a sauce. This is a way to enhance the flavor of the fish and make the pie even more creamy.
White Sauce
White sauce is a classic condiment that compliments a range of meals — from lasagna to fish pie. Though your fish pie probably includes this sauce, you cannot go wrong by adding more of it before serving this dish.
Use butter, flour, milk, salt, and pepper to prepare it, and add cheese of your choice to give it an extra flavor. I usually add grated parmesan, but you can mix in cheddar, fontina, or any other cheese that melts.
Parsley Lemon Sauce
Parsley lemon sauce is a refreshing addition to various meals containing fish. You can make it with white wine, butter or olive oil, heavy cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to prepare, and all you need is a saute pan.
What Beverage to Serve With Fish Pie?
The choice of beverage to serve with fish pie depends on your personal preference. Below are three suggestions for drinks that match perfectly with this savory meal.
Herbal Tea
Herbs match well with fish pie in every form. If you enjoy a warm beverage with this meal, consider serving it with chamomile, peppermint, or mixed herbal tea.
Sparkling Water
Sparkling water is well-known for its benefits to your digestive system, so it is always a good choice to serve this beverage during a meal. I love to spice it up by adding fresh mint leaves, lemon, lime, or even cucumber slices.
White Wine
White wine is a popular drink that compliments different fish meals, especially if it has fruity undertones. It is a perfect choice if you serve fish pie for dinner or late lunch.
What Dessert to Serve with Fish Pie?
Fish pie is a pretty creamy meal, so you might consider serving it with a crunchy dessert. On the other hand, you might decide to match it with more cream. Here are a few of my suggestions.
Cannoli
Cannoli is a popular Italian dessert that perfectly combines crunchy and creamy textures. If you are still a beginner, the best option is to get cannoli shells in the store since frying them can be a bit tricky. Still, you can get creative with the ricotta filling by adding chocolate chips, nuts, jams, or fruits to it.
Lemon Cheesecake
Lemon cheesecake is always a good choice after a meal, such as fish pie. It is light and refreshing, and it doesn’t require any baking. To prepare it, you will need biscuits, butter, lemon juice, full-fat cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, powdered sugar, gelatine, and lemon curd.
Raspberry Sorbet
Raspberry Sorbet is another delicious and fresh dish that pairs well with fish pie. It has only three ingredients — raspberries, sugar, and water— but you can make it more interesting by adding mint, lime zest, and lime or lemon juice. This dessert is a perfect combination of sour and sweet, which makes it a great match for lighter versions of fish pie.
Best Glazed Carrots Side Dish for Fish Pie
Ingredients
- 2 Carrots
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 2 tsp Minced Garlic
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Peel the carrots and cut them into pieces about 1 1/2 inches long.
- Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl, and toss the carrots into the mixture.
- Toss them onto a frying pan and roast them for 20 minutes or until the carrots are caramelized. Make sure not to burn them.
- Serve your glazed carrots with fish pie. You can even use the leftover sauce and put it over the fish pie. Yum!