Smoked haddock with macaroni cheese recipe

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Serves

Step 2

Heat half the butter in a saucepan and cook the chopped onion and chopped garlic over a low heat until soft but not coloured, about 10 minutes. Scrape into a bowl.

Step 3

Cut the haddock into four portions, each weighing about 90g. Put the milk, cream, thyme, haddock skin, quartered onion and sliced garlic into a sauté pan and gently bring to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, then take the pan off the heat and leave for 20 minutes so that the flavours can infuse the liquid.

Step 4

Heat the rest of the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and, when the butter is foaming, add the leek. Cook until soft but not coloured, about 8 minutes. Set aside.

Step 5

Strain the milk and cream into a jug. Wash the sauté pan and put the milk and cream back into it. Put a large pan of boiling salted water on and add the pasta – cook it for a little less time than suggested on the packet. You want the pasta and the fish to be ready at the same time, ideally.

Step 6

Heat the infused cream, add the reserved chopped onions and garlic and the fish pieces, and poach the haddock for about 4 minutes. Add the leek.

Step 7

Drain the pasta, reserving a little of the cooking water, and add the pasta to the sauté pan. Gently combine, adding a little of the cooking water if you need it (this will make the mixture more fluid, looser). Season, add some lemon juice (taste as you go – you may want half a lemon, you may want more). Add some of the grated cheese – you will serve the rest on the side.

Step 8

Separate the eggs, keeping each yolk in half of the shell (you can discard the whites or keep them for something else). Divide the pasta between four bowls, sprinkle with chives or spring onions, and make a little well in the middle of each helping. Put the egg yolks in the wells. Season the yolks, add more grated cheese and serve.