We really enjoy tasty smoked haddock on a fast day, but were getting just a tad bored with the same old simple wilted spinach, smoked haddock and poached egg that we have had so often.
So I looked online for some inspiration and found an interesting recipe on BBC Good Food, from which I developed this fast day friendly version. Using cauliflower on top of the spinach and fish turns this into a complete meal.
Choosing a strongly flavoured cheese like parmesan means that you can use a lot less but get a fantastic flavour.
This got the thumbs up from us both and I will definitely be making it again!
For a vegetarian version, you could use smoked tofu, which would have a similar balance of flavours. But I also think that it would be lovely with a couple of big mushrooms each and maybe some chopped walnuts in the topping and some extra cheese.
- 200g leaf spinach
- 2g butter (a trace)
- 170g smoked haddock, skinned and cut into 2 portions
- 1 large tomato, cut into 8 wedges
- ¼ cauliflower, cut into florets
- 100ml creme fraiche
- juice ½ lemon
- 20g parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- ½ red onion, finely sliced
- a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
- Preheat the oven to 180c Fan.
- Lightly grease a shallow oven proof dish.
- Put the cauliflower florets in a saucepan of boiling water to cover and simmer until just tender.
- Put the spinach in a colander and gently pour over hot water from a kettle to wilt it.
- Freshen under cold water and then squeeze out as much water as possible.
- Roughly chop the spinach and spread over the bottom of the oven dish.
- Lay the haddock fillets over the top and tuck the tomato pieces around them.
- Drain the cauliflower florets and distribute evenly over the top.
- Season well with black pepper.
- Mix together the cream, lemon juice, parmesan and onion with some freshly grated nutmeg.
- Spread over the top of the cauliflower.
- Sprinkle with breadcrumbs.
- Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the topping starts to turn golden.
- Serve at once.