Haddock Wrapped in Smoked Streaky Bacon on a Bubble and Swede Rosti with Sugar Glazed Carrots, Sweet Stem Broccoli and a Bearnaise Sauce

Tastes vary from person to person in every aspect of our lives; whilst some things are universally enjoyed, like Calippos on a hot day, Adele (somewhat guiltily), and puppies - the Vietnamese are especially partial to a Pho Spaniel, so I’ve been told – there are other tastes that have to be acquired. A perfect example is Unilever’s Marmite, a product that has divided public opinion since its introduction to the shores of Britannia in 1902.

In fashion tastes become styles; some people for instance find it acceptable to wear spectacles that have regular glass in, serving no evident purpose other than to perhaps make them look more intelligent, oxymoronically bearing an inner stupidity which they’d been masking with eight inches of denim, a faux gold neck chain with potential to moor the Titanic, and some inhumanely tight trousers sat atop a pair of shoes so long they could be used to ski in. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for a bit of fancy dress, I’m not adverse to donning the glads and giving the tiles a lick of rouge every other weekend, I just think there are more important things to be worrying about than which pair of budgey smugglers you’re going to aimlessly walk up the Kingsland Road in . . . perhaps I’m just not edgy enough, or maybe my budgey is actually a macaw.

In music there are those who create the flavours and those who try them out, the pop charts are full to the brim with catchy songs that when stripped down are all essentially the same, but it’s because of this very reason that they appeal to the masses; like puppies and Calippos. The underground dance scenes are spear headed by a small collective of pioneers, some of them in non-prescription specs I might add, who through the medium of ‘trend’ and a healthy following of sexy scene-sters continue to carve out genre niches in the ever expanding list of sub-categorised Electronica – the recent influx of ‘Deep House’ being a prime example. Some people genuinely love the music, and although they may not have a grasp of the intrinsic musical qualities that form its make up, they enjoy it because it’s well made, and they have good taste. Others don’t, and they listen to Gabba.

I am a firm believer in not knocking something till you’ve tried it, within reason of course; I wouldn’t urge you to start shooting up, and both kidnap and murder are also ill advised. However, if you haven’t had a mushroom before I would suggest giving it a whirl; cherry tomatoes roasted in soy sauce and sugar are also rather splendid; and if for some reason it’s never occurred to you to slip a filet of haddock between some smoked streaky bacon, glaze a few carrots, toss some sweet stem broccoli in butter, lay it all out on a bubble and swede rosti before adding a dollop of béarnaise sauce; I would whole heartedly recommend you to do so. 

Ingredients (Serves 4):

2 large haddock filets

2 packs of smoked streaky bacon

For the Rosti:

1 large swede, peeled and chopped

1 large potato, peeled and chopped

1 egg

¼ white cabbage, finely shredded

70g mature cheddar, grated

50g salted butter

For the Béarnaise:

2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of water

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of tarragon leaves, chopped

2 egg yolks

150g salted butter, melted

12 small carrots

1 pack of sweet stem broccoli

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Make the Béarnaise sauce first as you will probably balls it up first time around like I did, it takes some real elbow grease as doing it with a blender as almost every recipe will suggest just didn’t work. In a small saucepan boil the white wine vinegar, water, shallot and chopped tarragon – make sure you save a couple of tspns of freshly chopped tarragon for later on. Once it has reduced by half its size strain the liquid through a sieve into a jug and discard the soggy shallots / tarragon mixture.

2. Beat the two egg yolks together and mix in the strained tarragon / vinegar reduction until it’s light and frothy. Pour the mixture into a pyrex bowl and in turn heat this bowl over a smaller saucepan filled with an inch or two of water, a rudimentary Bain-marie. Make sure the heat is on medium low and constantly whisk the mixture, whilst adding the melted butter very, very slowly. This is the difficult bit and it will seem like nothing is happening for a good few minutes, however persevere. The yolks of the egg will catch the butter and suddenly the mixture will thicken and change, creating a lovely mayonnaise like sauce that reeks of wonderful tarragon. Finally take the sauce of the heat, stir in the remaining chopped tarragon, season, transfer to a new container and cover with tin foil. This can be reheated when the rest of the meal is ready.

3. Boil a saucepan of water and cook the potatoes and swede, strain and mash using the 50g of butter and the egg.

4. Whilst the potatoes and swede are boiling lay a sheet of tin foil on a baking tray and drizzle with a little oil; wrap the haddock in the bacon and place on the foil, season, then cook in the oven at 200°C for 10 minutes.

5. Whilst the fish is cooking fry up the cabbage in some olive oil and add to the mashed potato and swede, along with the grated cheddar.

6. Boil up the carrots and broccoli, when cooked toss the carrots in sugar over a medium heat, and chuck a small knob of butter in with the broccoli.

7. Make the swede, cabbage, potato and cheese mix into patties around 5” across and 2cm deep, fry for a couple of minutes on each side before plating up. Put the rosti on first, followed by the fish, chuck on some carrots and broccoli and a healthy dollop of Béarnaise and you’re ready to go.