Week 6: Smoked haddock and pancetta soufflé

Although there’s been a little gap since the last post, I think I’m just in time for my weekly challenge. On Sunday last I cooked a smoked haddock and pancetta soufflé – yes, a soufflé! But why the delay? Well, there was a slight issue of having a new kitchen fitted which caused the upheaval you see on the left and the reincarnation you also see (lower left) and which was the setting for this latest gastronomic experiment.

This recipe comes from MasterChef Everyday, a collection of tasty dishes which have been placed in a realm ranging from relatively easy (baked apples) to particularly tricky (rabbit ballotine and offal sausage, offal toasts, parsnip puree, radishes, and mustard cream sauce). So, opting for something never cooked before but possible to cook up in a new kitchen yet to be tried and tested, I opted for the soufflé. I couldn’t get any pancetta (only the local shop was open), so I used bacon instead. All-in-all a touch tricky but very good – fine starter dish. I had mixture left over so popped it in the fridge and ate it on the next day. It didn’t rise quite so well on the second day, but rise it still did and just as tasty it was too! This recipe makes 6.

Softened unsalted butter for greasing	1 small white onion, finely chopped
75g fine white breadcrumbs	225g undyed smoked haddock
75g parmesan cheese, finely grated	50g pancetta (or bacon!)
300ml whole milk (semi-skimmed also fine)	2 tsp chopped chervil (I couldn’t get his)
2 sprigs of parsley	2 tsp chopped dill (or this, either)
1 bay leaf	Knob of unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper	40g plain flour
½ teaspoon of grated nutmeg	40g butter
Zest of ½ a lemon	4 large eggs, separated

Pre-heat the oven to 190ᵒc, pour water into a roasting tin to 2cm depth and butter the inside of 6 ramekins. Combine the breadcrumbs and parmesan and coat the insides of the ramekins – there’s plenty of mixture so you can have about 5mm or more of breadcrumbs and parmesan at the bottom of the ramekin. Pop in the fridge until needed.

Put the milk, parsley, bay leaf, pepper, nutmeg, lemon zest and onion into a wide pan. Bring to a gentle simmer and then lay the haddock in the milk. Cover with a lid and poach for 5-10 minutes. When the fish is ready, it’ll break apart easily. Set aside to cool a bit and then, removing skin and any bones, flake the fish apart with a fork.

Meanwhile, sauté the pancetta/bacon in butter for 5 minutes and then drain on kitchen paper.
Strain the milk for the poached fish through a sieve, discarding parsley and bay leaf but keeping the rest. Mix the fish, onion mix, pancetta, etc. and the chopped herbs (if used) together.

Make a roux with the butter and flour and then slowly add the milk, stirring as you go. Heat gently for 10 minutes to thicken up. Whisk in the egg yolks and then add the fish mixture, stirring it in. Season to taste.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Put a spoonful of the whites into the fish mix to loosen it, then fold in the remainder. Divide the mixture between the ramekins and smooth over the top. Place in the prepared roasting tin and cook for 15-20 minutes / until they’re golden on top. Serve immediately!

Today’s learning:
The soufflé business itself is fairly straight forward – just whipping up of eggs and folding in some tasty ingredients and popping into a buttered ramekin.  Try it with different mixes although the haddock infused milk is particularly good.

Recipe taken from: BBC Masterchef (2012) MasterChef Everyday. London: Dorling Kindersley Limited