I was curious because of the subject line, so I looked up her recipe. It says fish stock or clam juice. Do you prefer to not use either? Somehow, 'seafood pot pie' conjured up an image of a seafood newburg in pastry. yum!

It sounds like a good idea, but I would be concerned about the seafood getting overcooked. It takes quite a while for the crust to get done, and seafood cooks very quickly. I do not think it would benefit by baking for over an hour after it is already cooked.

I noticed in the recipe that she uses cooked shrimp, scallops, and cooked lobster meat. I think I would use raw shrimp, scallops, and lobster, since they would be more than done after baking for 1 hour 15 minutes.

A better dish to make would be seafood gumbo.

I would substitute crab for the lobster, as I like crab better. Also, crab does not suffer as much from being cooked twice. I make a deviled crab casserole that has a bread crumb topping, and I think this is better than having a pie crust on top. Pie crust takes too long to cook.

You could use vegetable stock if you do not want to use clam juice or fish stock.

Isn't an hour and a quarter overly long to bake a pie? I agree with Lars to use raw fish - I don't know any pastry that needs that long!

Yes i agree that the fish etc may be over cooked. I may just as suggested use raw fish. I often make a chicken pot pie in a special casserole with the crust and its a show stopper! i was hoping for that here too.

lars the crabmeat casserole sounds delish. Do you use canned crabmeat i never know what to buy . Thanks all

@cran, maybe some of the tweaks mentioned in the reviews for the recipe could be helpful.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/seafood-potpie-recipe-2125949#reviewsTop

Some of the Food Network recipes are from staffers, not the named star. I wouldn't stick to it just because of Ina's name. The comments say it's good (but who knows who those people are!), but to me it sounds overwhelming, perhaps trying to disguise the overcooked seafood. I don't get the peas at all. I love peas, but they sound like intruders. The size of the seafood components sounds weird too. I've had ”rustic” chicken pot pie with similarly large pieces of chicken, and one loses the flavor of the other ingredients while chewing the big lumps of overcooked chicken. My guess is the pre-cooked seafood is CYA so people who make themselves sick from mishandling don't sue, and the large lumps are to show off your largesse if you don't live in a seafood haven. Ordinarily, one would make a pot pie out of scraps and pieces (another possibility for why cooked, if they're leftovers).

I don't cook fish, so can't say about the directions, but here's a cod pie recipe from Epicurious that sounds good, and much more focused, for a contrast: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cod-potpies-with-dill-biscuit-crusts-230756

Here's my recipe for deviled crab. I made it up, based on how I remember deviled crab that I used to get in Galveston. You can use canned crab meat in this, and I have even made it with canned tuna instead of crab.

Deviled Crab

16 oz. Crabmeat (Snow crab is fine)

1 tsp Lobster or Crab soup base, optional, or 1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 large onion, finely diced (approx. 1/4 cup)

3-4 stalks of celery (including leaves) diced

8-10 fresh Serrano chilies, all seeds removed, and minced (or 1 green bell pepper plus 1 Habanero chili)

1/3 -1/2 cup flour

1 tbsp minced fresh thyme

1 tsp minced fresh Thai basil (optional)

1 tsp fish soup base--crab or lobster preferred--dissolved in 1/2 cup water or clam juice

2 tbsp Dijon mustard (or spicy brown mustard)

4 tbsp lemon juice

2 dashes of cayenne (or your favorite hot sauce)

1/8 tsp black or white pepper

1 egg, slightly beaten

2/3 cup fresh bread crumbs, the size of small peas

1-2 tbsp butter, for the crumbs

Have all the ingredients ready-mince the onion and celery and set aside together; mince the herbs and chilies separately and set aside. If you are using crab in its shell, remove all the meat first and then put it in a small bowl. Add the optional crab or lobster soup base, if desired. If you can get lobster base, this will improve the flavor the most, but crab or clam base is fine. Adjust the quantity depending on the saltiness of the base. Add 1/4 tsp salt if not using soup base

In a medium or large saucepan, melt 3 tbsp butter and add 2 tbsp olive oil. Add the onion and celery and saute for about 3 minutes, or until the onion is all broken up and separated. Add the Serrano chilies and cook another 2-3 minutes. Then add the flour and continue to cook to make a light roux, stirring constantly. Add the herbs and stir to combine. Add the water with soup base (or clam juice), and stir to make a paste and remove from heat. Add the mustard, lemon juice, cayenne, and pepper, and allow to cool slightly.

Pour a small amount of the paste into the beaten egg and combine before adding the egg to the paste. Add the crab meat and stir to combine.

Lightly grease a 9"x6"x2" baking dish (or individual ramekins or muffin pan) with olive oil, and add the mixture, leaving about 1/2" space from the top of the pan. Press the breadcrumbs into the top and dot with butter (or drizzle the butter melted) evenly over the top.

Broil for 5-7 minutes not too close to the heat or bake at 425° for 6-8 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are crispy. Serves four as a main course or six as an appetizer.

Agree...overcooked seafood. I make a shrimp curry that I serve over rice....but no reason in the world why it couldn't be in a casserole with a pastry crust on top....it used chicken broth and heavy cream as well as onions sauteed in butter and raw peeeled shrimp...the shrimp are whole.

I would use a similar recipe and bake in a deeper dish and only bake until the crust is browned and the filling bubbley...no more than 20 minutes at the most.

If i bake an apple pie at 375 for 1 1/4 hours to get the apples fully cooked, I need to tent the crust to prevent over browning.

But I sure do disagree with Pillog about the size of the seafood pieces....a big chunk of lobster or a whole scallop is very luxurious in a pie....don't think of it as a soup to be eaten with a spoon but seafood with a sauce and baked with a crust on top. think the Epicurious recipe sounds like chicken pot pie with cod instead of chicken.

I think Ina's recipes ounds delicious...peas, pearl onions and all....but Ill bet the shrimp and lobster are like rubber....cooked too long.

Reviews, positive and negative can be a start, but you really just have to try something yourself.

Though I've not made it myself, I've had the Seafood Lasagna from the Silver Palate. It's been awhile ago but we liked it, and I'm not usually a fan of seafood combinations.

Ina also has a Seafood Gratin recipe...

I guess it's down to your expectations of what a ... oh, ”protein” (meat, poultry, fish, shellfish) pie ought to be like. I want all the ingredients together in harmony. I guess others like a treasure hunt.

If I had good, whole, fresh, expensive mixed seafood, that's worthy of a starring role, I'd do something like a paella, where each gets added at the right time to all be cooked right at the end.

Maybe for a pie, the thing to do is cook each of the proteins separately, and the base separately with the seafood/fish/clam stock for the flavor (I'd make a quick stock from the shells). Bake the crust separately. Combine the base and seafood in the dish, plunk the crust on and heat just long enough to get warm and have the crust soak up some of the base.

Thank you cholebud for the reviews, yes i think there is other options, i was mainly stuck on the presentation more than the actual dish. Plllog we actually do live in seafood haven! the recipe for cod pie looks interesting too. Lars thank you for the recipe, it sounds delicious . I love crab but its hard to get anything but canned here, but our sefood is great. i may just make an oldie but goodie and make fish chowder. my company is visiting from the south and I like to serve a New England type dish. lindac i agree nothing is worse than over cooked seafood . Thank you all

I have an awesome recipe for clam chowder. Always a big hit!

Star Gazey Pie has always captured my imagination, if not my apetite

This pie made with cooked fish is tried and true - delicious.

https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/collections/easy-meat-free-recipes/flaky-fish-pie

For some reason a sea food pot pie does not peak my appetite. It just sounds wrong to me.

Islay's link looks good to me.

When traveling through NovaScotia we stop at a well known market that sells a prepared seafood pie in two sizes. It isn't something we can heat up on the road or even a hotel. If i'm standing anywhere near that seafood case, hands are reaching left and right for these pies. Very popular.

This one looks good, link, HERE I've never made a seafood pie but i like the idea of a puff pastry top crust. 30-45 minute cook time. The shopping list is a bit larger than it needs to be. I would cut that back a bit. A bit confusing but i think the seafood is added and partially cooked before the oven time...

I have made Tasmanian scallop pie and it is delicious. I used this recipe but I prefer only putting the pastry on top instead of lining the dish with it as well. I was concerned that the scallops would come out overcooked but they did not.

https://www.notquitenigella.com/2019/11/14/tasmanian-scallop-pie/

Reading the OP’s plan to omit fennel made me wonder about Pernod. Sure enough it’s in the recipe. That’s what I’d omit, as I find it overpowering. I made Ina’s Lobster Pot Pie once which I found underwhelming.

I make fish pie using this recipe as a base. You can do anything you want with it. The main components are a white fish, and perhaps a smoked fish, and then anything else you want and happen to have around. I have made mine with salmon, mackerel, shrimp, clams, etc. Adding clam broth is a cheater way to get the "fishy" taste into a sauce or broth without simmering actual fish in a broth . . . any veggies are fine too, corn is good this time of year. I have added spinach sometimes. I have made it with and without the hard boiled egg addition. If you don't like fennel, try celery seed or celery leaf or minced sauteed celery.

BBC Good Foods "Fisherman's Pie." https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fish-pie-four-steps