CORONATION FISH PIE

My invitation to attend the Coronation of Prince Charles this Saturday must have gotten lost in the mail.  Never mind.  The dress I wear to happy royal occasions was last worn at Charles’ wedding to Diana forty-two years ago and probably doesn’t fit. My fabulous garden party hat with the bird’s nest crown? It is now being used by a family of sparrows.  The least I can do is prepare a proper coronation feast. 

A Coronation Fish Pie has been the celebratory dish of choice on such occasions since medieval days.  It was always prepared in Gloucester where its main ingredient, the lamprey eel, was abundant.  You may wonder how a jawless, carnivorous parasite whose long cartilaginous body resembles a male member became a royal delicacy.  Who said the English lack a sense of humor? 

In recent times, the lamprey population has declined in Gloucester and been replaced by eel fished from Lake Huron, frozen and shipped across the Atlantic. Rumor has it that Charles has opted for a pork filling for his coronation pie filling this time. Not me. I will make a fish pie with salmon, cod and a tin of Patagonia’s smoked mussels. This magnificent pie contains fish in a white sauce, covered with creamy mashed potatoes and a crust of breadcrumbs, parsley and cheese. 

For dessert a Strawberry and Lemon Trifle is my riff on a majestic English pudding.  I will replace the traditional sherry-spiked custard with a tangy lemon curd spooned between layers of sliced berries and crumbled shortbread cookies then crowned with whipped cream.   

I imagine a coronation trifle would be served in a footed glass bowl the size of a birdbath.  A smaller version I used to own was sold at a garage sale two moves ago.   I have downsized to serving individual trifles in shallow champagne coupes. A coronation dessert is one of the few worthy occasions to bring out this elegant, obsolete stemware. 

LONG LIVE THE KING!

A Lamprey eel