Smoked haddock is popular in the UK, being eaten all over the British Isles and elsewhere, too. Even the French have adopted it, calling it by its English name, ‘haddock’. Smoked haddock began as a Scottish delicacy and several variations can be found, such as Glasgow pales, which are lightly smoked and pale straw in colour. The best known are Arbroath Smokies, where the fish are hot-smoked to turn them a coppery brown colour on the outside with the creamy white flesh inside that has a deliciously savoury flavour.
Ingredients
- 1 celery stick
- 600 g/1 lb 5 oz baby new potatoes, skins on
- handful of lovage leaves, finely chopped
- 100 ml/3½ floz/scant ½ cup mayonnaise (see here)
- 1 tbsp finely sliced gherkins
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- splash of lemon juice
- splash of Tabasco
- 4 × 150–175-g/5–6-oz cooked smoked haddock fillets
- 1 slice of rye bread, made into crumbs
- sunflower oil for baking
- salt and pepper
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Prepare a bowl of iced water.
- Trim the base from the celery stick, pull off any tough strings and dice.
- Bring a large pan of water to the boil and blanch the celery for 1–2 minutes. Lift the celery out of the water with a draining spoon and transfer to the bowl of iced water.
- Add the potatoes to the hot water in the pan and boil for 6–8 minutes until they are almost tender but still give some resistance when pierced with the tip of a knife. Drain and leave to cool.
- To make the remoulade, drain the celery and set aside 2 tablespoons of the chopped lovage. Mix the mayonnaise with the celery, gherkins, shallot and remaining lovage. Season with lemon juice, Tabasco, salt and pepper and set aside.
- Line a baking sheet with baking parchment (baking paper), place the haddock on it and put in the oven for 5–7 minutes. This is only to heat the fish. After all, the fish is already cooked and smoked.
- Heat 6 tablespoons of sunflower oil in a frying pan (skillet) over a high heat. Fry the baby potatoes for 8–10 minutes until golden brown, turning regularly. Add the reserved lovage leaves 30 seconds before the potatoes are ready. Remove from the pan and season the potatoes with salt.
- Take the haddock out of the oven. Serve the fish with a spoonful of the remoulade alongside and the potatoes. Sprinkle the rye breadcrumbs over the fish.
