Let’s get this clear straight away for those non-Scottish folk. This isn’t a swear word (even though it would be a great one), it’s a traditional Scottish soup made with smoked haddock and mashed potato. While we were in Switzerland I was reading a book about British food and came back eager to make and eat some. This was the dish I really wanted to try and when I found some discounted haddock in Waitrose it seemed like a good excuse.
Ingredients
- Half an onion
- 300g smoked haddock
- 250ml water
- 190ml milk
- 1 small potato (you want about 60g mash)
- 40ml double cream
Serves 4
Chop your onion and fry in butter or oil. Cut your haddock into large pieces if it contains bones or small pieces if it doesn’t. This is so it’s easier to take the bones out later on. Add the haddock and water to the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
While the fish is bubbling away boil your potato and then mash. I’m going to be honest with you here, I forgot that I was cutting the recipe down at this point and added four times as much potato as I should have! However, the soup still tasted great with this thicker consistency so if you have (much) more potato than listed above then it’s fine to add it in.
Once the fish is done it’s time to remove the bones and flake the haddock into small pieces. Then put the flakes back into the pan along with the mashed potato and milk and stir to combine. Allow the soup to cook for a few minutes and take off the heat once the soup is warm through. Season with salt and pepper and just before serving stir the cream through and garnish with chives. It’s a lovely creamy soup which I love with lots of black pepper to spice it up. Enjoy!
Find this recipe on SpringPad: http://sprng.me/9med0
It’s a shame the soup’s not particularly photogenic – I’m not calling you out on your skills! It’s just kind of… grey.
This sounds super tasty; who doesn’t like smoked fish (which always tastes like bacon to me – the smoke, mmm)? It sounds like it would taste like baked potato soup, only sans cheese, and with fish… ok, so it’s really nothing like baked potato soup!
The soup is quite grey – much like the Scottish weather which has been useless and grey ever since I got back from Switzerland!
Imagine my horror when minutes after writing this post I saw one of the Come Dine With Me contestants make a complete hash out of this recipe! I was worried and then reasoned that a decent recipe was even more necessary
I forgot to mention above that this is one of my favourite dishes to order when we eat at Scottish restaurants. Of course I can’t afford to do that too often so it’s nice to be able to make it whenever I want.
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