Being on a budget doesn’t mean you have to scrimp on taste and nutrition. Food blogging phenomenon Jack Monroe serves up top tips. Here is one of her recipes for you to try.

Ingredients:

Serves four to six

1kg potatoes

1 large onion

A handful of chopped fresh thyme

350g skinless river cobbler or other firm white fish

350g skinless smoked haddock

300ml whole milk, plus extra to mash the potatoes

4 eggs

50g hard strong cheese

30g butter, plus extra to mash the potatoes

2 heaped tbsp plain flour

2 mugs of spinach leaves

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Wash and dice the potatoes and bring to the boil in a large saucepan of water. Reduce to a medium heat and cook until tender.

Meanwhile, poach the fish. Peel and quarter the onion and put into a large saute pan or saucepan with the thyme. Add the fish, cover with the milk, and poach on a low heat for about eight minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat, take out the fish and onion pieces and place on a plate. Flake the fish with a fork. Reserve the poaching liquid to make the sauce with later. Boil or poach the eggs in a small saucepan for six minutes. Drain and carefully spoon on to the fish plate.

Check the potatoes, they should be very soft by now. When cooked, drain the potatoes and tip back into the saucepan. Mash with a little milk and butter.

Grate the cheese into the mash and stir well to melt through. Melt the butter in a milk pan over a low heat and add one tablespoon of the flour. Stir well with a wooden spoon to make a thick paste. Add the other tablespoon of flour and repeat. Now take a tablespoon of the reserved poaching liquid and stir it into the paste until well mixed in. Repeat, gradually adding more liquid, until blended together in a thick sauce. Add the spinach, stir to wilt, then tip in the cooked eggs, mashing them with the back of a fork to break up. Add the onion then the flaked fish and mix everything together well to coat in the sauce.

Spoon the fish mixture into a large ovenproof casserole dish then top with the potato mash, starting at the edge of the dish and working inwards, using a fork to fluff up the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until the mash is golden and crispy on top.