I’ve loved kedgeree ever since a schoolfriend’s mum cooked a salmon version when I went round for sleepovers. She must have got rather tired of me begging for it every time I visited but to a child who’d grown up on traditional English pies and roasts it was the height of sophistication and exoticism.
These days I use pearly, un-dyed smoked haddock rather than salmon. Buttery, moist and spicy, this kedgeree is based on one I was shown how to make by C.J. Jackson from the Billingsgate Seafood School, who does brilliant fish prep and cookery courses.
It makes a very good Sunday brunch and is particularly welcome around Christmas if you’ve overdosed on poultry. Add a few handfuls of frozen peas towards the end and it’ll do you proud as a one-pot weekday supper.
Smoked Haddock Kedgeree
Ingredients:
140g long grain rice (dry weight), freshly cooked and kept warm
1 fillet of un-dyed smoked haddock
200-300 ml milk
60g butter
2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tspn curry powder
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
1 green chilli, finely chopped
Method:
Place the haddock, skin-side down, in a single layer in a pan with enough milk to almost cover it. Put on a lid and bring to the boil. Simmer for a minute or two, remove from the heat and set aside while you fry the onions, by which time it will be cooked through.
Sweat the shallots in the butter until soft and golden. Add the chilli, ginger and spices and fry for a minute or two.
Remove the haddock from the milk (keep the milk to use as a soup base), remove the skin and break the fish into large chunks. Add it to the onion pan with the hot cooked rice and the peas, if using, and mix gently.
Oh yes. An excellent way of concealing smoked haddock from Him Indoors who claims to hate it. It is in fact remarkably easy to fed it to him without my getting a murmur of complaint. Must be the way I cook ’em.
Of course it is. 🙂 Huzzah!
My favourite kind of brunch food, we should have it more often. I like mine with crispy onions and a few lentils. Sadly, it is hard to find good smoked haddock here.
Mm, that sounds good. Shame about your haddock! We’re lucky in that we have great haddock and great smokehouses.
Too right, I buy English smoked haddock in France when I am there! Feast days.
I love smoked haddock. My favourite way is with poached eggs on toast. A rare treat. I often wonder why fishmongers sell real smoked haddock and not real smoked cod. It is a mystery to me. Speaking of smoking… It’s getting posted tomorrow.
Yes, that’s a lovely way of doing it. Maybe we’ll get more smoked cod now stocks are back up to properly fish-able levels in our part of the world. And yum! Can’t wait to try your smoked salmon, thank you so much for putting me on the list. Lx