Smoked haddock omelette

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Check the smoked haddock for any tiny pin bones missed and remove. Bring the milk to the boil in a wide-based saucepan. Carefully lay the smoked haddock in the pan, ensuring it is covered by the milk. Place a lid on the saucepan, turn off the heat and leave the fish to poach for around 10 minutes.

Once cooked, remove the haddock from the milk,reserving the liquor, and flake into a greaseproof paper-lined baking tray. Cover with cling film and chill until ready to use. Pass the milk through fine muslin into a clean saucepan and keep to one side.

To make the smoked fish béchamel, bring the smoked haddock poaching liquor to a gentle simmer. In a separate pan over a medium-low heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour to make a roux and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Gradually ladle in the warm poaching liquor, stirring as you do so to keep the sauce smooth. Cook gently over a very low heat for 20 minutes. Pass the sauce through fine muslin and cover the surface with a piece of baking paper or cling film to prevent a skin forming. Set aside until needed. (You won’t need all of the fish béchamel but you can freeze the rest to use another time.)

For the omelette glaze, gently warm the béchamel in a saucepan, then pour into a bowl and whisk in the hollandaise and egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper to taste and pass through muslin into a warm jug or bowl. Keep warm to stop the glaze from splitting.

To assemble and cook the omelette, crack the eggs into a jug blender and blend briefly to combine. Pass through muslin into a measuring jug.

Place 4 individual omelette pans over a low heat. Retrieve the smoked haddock, remove the cling film and lay on a grill tray. Warm under the grill on a low heat. To each omelette pan, add 1tbsp butter and heat until melted and foaming. Pour the blended egg into the pans, dividing it equally. Using a spatula, gently move the egg around in the pans until they start to firm up. Remove from the heat; you want the eggs to be slightly loose, as they will continue to cook off the heat.

Season the omelettes with salt and pepper and sprinkle the grated Italian hard cheese over their surfaces. Divide the flaked smoked haddock among the omelettes, then spoon on the glaze to cover the fish and extend to the edge of the pans. If the glaze spills over the side of the pan, wipe it away, as this will burn on the side when you are blowtorching

To finish, wave a cook’s blowtorch over the surface of the omelettes to caramelise the glaze. Allow the glaze to become quite dark, as the bitterness will balance out the richness of all the other ingredients.

Hollandaise sauce

Makes 300g.

Place the butter in a saucepan over a low heat to melt slowly and separate. Skim off the froth from the surface.

Carefully pour the clear yellow butter into a jug, leaving the milky layer behind. Allow the clarified butter to cool slightly, until warm but not hot. Reserve the buttermilk, too.

Meanwhile, put the egg yolks, cream and shallot purée into a heatproof bowl and set over a bain-marie. Whisk until pale and thickened to create a thick sabayon. Remove from the heat and slowly ladle the warm clarified butter into the sabayon, whisking constantly as you do so. Once fully emulsified, slowly add the buttermilk, whisking to incorporate (you won’t come across this in a classic recipe but it helps to stop the sauce splitting).

Season with the wine vinegar and salt, cayenne and lemon juice to taste. Pass through muslin into a container and keep warm until ready to serve.

Shallot purée

Makes 500g.

Put the shallots, wine vinegar and white wine into a vacuumpack bag and place in a pressure cooker. Fill the cooker with water and cook on full pressure for 1½ hours. Remove from the cooker and open the bag when it is cool enough to handle. Strain off the liquid into a clean saucepan and tip the cooked shallots into a blender.

Reduce the liquor until thickened to a glaze, then pour the reduction onto the shallots and purée until smooth.

Use straight away or store, chilled, in small vacuum-pack bags and use within 1 week.