This is such a simple recipe, only needing a handful of ingredients and easily scalable to more people. For each person you’ll need one good smoked haddock fillet (make sure you get the un-dyed sort, the dyed stuff looks horrible), one large egg, and a handful of spinach.
What really makes this dish is the sauce – another one from Michelle Roux’s book that is my sauce bible. Mornay sauce is basically a tarted up bechamel sauce, so start making a bechamel by melting 30g butter and whisking in 30g flour for a few minutes to create a white roux. Pour in 500ml cold milk, whisking it into the roux, and gradually bring to the boil as you stir. Once boiled it need to simmer for about 10 minutes. If you’re wanting to prepare in advance, this is as far as I’d go for now, leaving it in a pan to cool with cling film on top to stop a skin forming on the top of the sauce. When near to serving, mix 3 egg yolks and 50ml double cream together and add to the sauce with seasoning of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Whisk in the mixture for a minute, then stir in 100g gruyere cheese until melted. Adjust the seasoning if you need and then serve on…
- The haddock fillets – which you’ve pan fried for a few minutes on each side,
- Poached eggs – like the sauce, be smart and prepare these in advance, cracking the eggs into lightly boiling water with a bit of vinegar to help it set, remove from the heat just before they’re completely cooked through (but solid enough to handle gently) and place in a bowl of iced water until ready. When you’re finishing off the sauce, place all the eggs in boiling water for another 30 – 60 seconds to heat and finish the cooking.
- Wilted spinach – wilted in a pan with melted butter, then rapidly stir fried to evaporate the water from the leaves, seasoned with nutmeg, salt and pepper