Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it,
But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be thankit.
Burn’s Night, January 25th; a night many Scots celebrate. This year we had a quiet night, just the two of us. It is always nice to have a traditional dish on the menu. Finnan Haddie is haddock that has been cold smoked with green wood and peat. We made a lovely meal of Finnan Haddie and leek sauce over yellow finn mashed potatoes with buttered peas and whole wheat homemade buttered bread on the side. Dessert was a really good scotch!
Here’s the Finnan Haddie with leeks recipe with our take on it. This would also be good over noodles or rice. It is a good spring dish. I could see adding some scallions and/or chives.
Recipe from Stonington Seafood
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- (serves 4)
- 1 lb Finnan Haddie.
- 2 3/4 cups of milk.
- 2-oz butter.
- 1 1/2 tbs plain flour.
- 1/2 tsp turmeric.
- 1 tsp Coleman’s English mustard powder.
- 1 tsp ground black pepper.
- 1 very small pinch cayenne pepper.
- 1 medium leek, cleaned and diced.
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Keep the haddock fillets in large chunks or just break the fillet in 3-4 pieces with the skin on. Add the sliced onion. Cover with the milk in a pan and bring up to a gentle simmer for four minutes. Remove pan from heat and let it sit another two minutes — Six minutes total — Pour milk into a jug.
- After cooling, remove haddock from skin, keep in large flakes. (We did not remove the skin, it was fine). Make a white sauce with the flour, 1-oz butter and smoky flavored milk. Keep a third of the milk back.
- Add turmeric, English mustard powder, small pinch chili powder (just enough to ‘pick up’ the flavor but not enough to add heat) & pepper.
- Sauté leek in 1-oz butter & add to the sauce. Add the haddock flakes including any juice that has accumulated. Stir, bringing up heat. Thin a little with remaining milk to desired thickness. Gently heat to serve.
We had it with yellow finn potatoes mashed with their own liquid instead of milk, butter, salt and white pepper( white pepper gives the potatoes a little more bite and depth). And for a side, lovely green peas with a little butter and salt.
Finnan Haddie is a good fish to keep in your freezer for use when you need a quickish meal. Try Cullen Skink soup for another take.
I have been diagnosed with full blown osteoporosis. I supposedly need to eat a “bone health” diet besides exercise. It is really confusing looking at that diet and what you can and can’t eat and when you need to eat this or that. Do any of you have easy tips for eating a “bone health” diet? I think I eat a pretty good diet right now, but any tips would be appreciated.
What’s for Dinner at your place?