Fishing – Fishing for pie

November started with some good fishing. Snapper have been caught in the shallows – as can be seen from this nice specimen (pictured) caught on a softbait and released. Snapper have also been caught in deeper waters, from 30 metres to 50 metres or more down. With the spawning of the snapper season, the focus has been to fish deeper. It’s good to see that most fishers reporting catches have released the bigger fish, as well as any females carrying roe. This is vital for the protection of any species.

While looking for a photo for this month’s column, I came across a Facebook page called “Nature’s Kai” which belongs Joel Hodgson, who landed the snapper in the photo. The page was set up with young Kiwis in mind.

Nature’s Kai is a page dedicated to encouraging people to take the kids out and away from their screens, and teaching them to fish, hunt, camp and cook.

While looking around I noticed that there were lots of fishing photos as well as recipes to prepare the captured fish and game species. The latest article is about kahawai, which have been all over the waters during November in the many workups that are popping up. In the article, he discusses a recipe for smoked kahawai pie. What sets Joel apart is that he is a qualified chef and not only does he encourage kids to get out into the outdoors, he can also cook and fish. Here is the recipe. Simple and delicious. Thanks Joel.

Smoked Kahawai Pie

In a large pot on a medium-high heat, start by frying a mix of diced onion, garlic, celery and carrot. In the chef world this is known as a mirepoix. When your mirepoix has softened and the onions are translucent, deglaze with white wine. Cook that off and add flour. Mix it well and very shortly after add equal amounts of chicken (or fish) stock and milk in stages. From here, add your flavour – smoked fish, peas, corn, herbs … basically whatever you want. Cater to your palate. Season.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer for two hours with the lid on. Remove the lid and continue to simmer with no lid until it’s pie mix consistency. Taste and season if needed. Pour into your roasting dish. Spread evenly and add little blobs of cream cheese – this is a game changer. Cover in mashed potato. Grate some cheese and lemon rind over the top and bake in a preheated oven at 220C until golden brown.