Sunday, April 09, 2006
Smoked Cod and Spinach Gratin
What happens if you mix a hard day at work with bad weather and good luck at the poker table? You get someone who really craves comfort food, but is not too keen to cook. That was exactly how I felt on Tuesday. I came home wet and tired, plonked down at the computer and didn't get up again until it was way past cooking time. What now? A look in the fridge revealed some smoked cod that desperately needed to go, a bunch of vegetables and not much else. How about fish pie? No, too boring... Lofty and I like spinach with our fish. So off I go on a recipe search and found just the inspiration I needed. On the BBC website, I found a "gratin of smoked haddock, spinach, emmenthal and crème fraiche" that sounded really nice. So I took this as a base and adapted it to fit the ingredients I had. The outcome was a creamy smoked cod, spinach and potato gratin covered in gooey, melting mozzarella cheese.500 g spinach, cleaned
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
¼ lemon, juice only
salt to taste
500 g smoked cod, skinned and boned (or haddock or coley)
150 ml cream (a little extra if needed)
4 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tbsp butter
a few spoonfuls of milk
125 g mozzarella cheese, grated (obviously, any easily melting cheese would work here)
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the potatoes into a saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Add a pinch of salt, cover and simmer until soft, about 20 minutes.
In the meantime, gently heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium sized earthenware baking dish or gratin dish over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and allow to collapse. Pour in the lemon juice and season with a little salt. Pull off the heat and set aside.
Chop the smoked fish into bite-sized pieces and scatter it over the spinach. Pour over the cream (don't worry if it curdles when it comes in contact with the lemon juice). It should be enough to reach the fish, but not cover it.
When the potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them with the butter. Add enough milk to just hold it together. Do not overdo the milk, this is not supposed to be thin mash. Cover the gratin evenly with the potatoes. Sprinkle generously with grated cheese. Place in the centre of the oven and bake until the gratin is heated through and the cheese is golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Christine at 12:20 am
