I love smoked haddock and was looking for ways to cook it when I cam across this recipe by Nigel Slater on this blog.

I adapted it slightly to accomodate what I had in the fridge and it turned out really well. It was the first time I’d made lentils in a cream sauce and loved it, it’s much more luxurious than a regular stock based sauce.

Serves 2

Recipe adapted from Nigel Slater’s Eat

Ingredients

• 200ml double cream
• 250g smoked haddock (skin removed)
• 6 black pepper corns
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 carrot (finely diced)
• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 100g brussel sprouts, sliced thinly
• 15g butter
• 120g green lentils
• 300ml vegetable stock
• Large handful of chopped parsley

Instructions

1. Heat the cream in a large saucepan, then add the haddock, the pepper corns and the bay leaves. Bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, but leave covered to keep the heat in the pan. The fish should continue to poach in the heated cream.
2. In another pan, melt the butter and add the carrots and onion, and gently cook for 5 minutes. Then add the lentils and the stock. Bring to the boil, cover, and simmer for 20 mins or until the lentils are just cooked. Add the sprouts.
3. Remove the fish from the cream and discard the peppercorns and bay leaves. Stir the cream into the lentil mixture and continue cooking so that the liquid reduces, until it just covers the lentils and produces a thick sauce.
4. Stir in the parsley and season. Divide the lentil mixture between two plates and top each with half the haddock.