Child-friendly Smoked Haddock Pilaf
I first made this with some smoked haddock I bought in a tiny smokehouse on the West Coast of Scotland called the Isle of Ewe Smokehouse. They produce astoundingly good smoked haddock, scallops and salmon in a spectacular setting.
Serves 4
Ingredients
400g un-dyed smoked haddock fillet, boned, skinless and cut into six portions
250g of basmati rice
4 spring onions, very finely sliced
375ml of vegetable stock (a cube is fine)
2 lemons
2 heaped teaspoons garam masala
½ teaspoon ground ginger
50g butter
A handful of fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
A small tin of British garden peas.
Get cooking...
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add in the garam masala and stir it around while it sizzles very briefly.
Add the rice (and the optional chilli) and mix it around thoroughly so that all the grains of rice get coated in the butter and spice.
Pour in the stock and add the ground ginger, some salt and pepper, juice and zest of half a lemon and mix it all together.
Lay the pieces of fish on the top of the rice, pushing them down so they are just covered with the stock.
Put the lid on the saucepan and let it all simmer very gently for about 15 minutes.
Keep checking on the stock levels. You don’t want it to go too dry, so carefully top up with extra stock if needed.
After ten minutes, add the peas.
After the 15 minutes, turn the heat off and leave the lid on to let it all steam together for about five minutes.
Now add the fresh coriander and spring. Very gently mix it all together with a fork, letting the fish flake through the rice.
If you want a more indulgent dish you can stir a tablespoon of cream or crème fraiche through the rice before serving.
Top the rice with some lemon wedges and let folk serve themselves straight from the pan.
