Ham and Haddie Soufflé

The dish originates from around the Moray Firth and the fishing ports all along its coast. My first visit to this area was when I visited my friend’s home in Portknockie for the weekend. We were both working in Dundee at the time and a trip home meant great cooking and plenty of home comfort. On arrival, we sat down to a welcome meal of haddock and poached egg, which is just exactly as it should have been. I loved it and my whole trip to the Moray coast remains firmly in my memory to this day.

Traditionally, the fish would be pale-smoked and then cooked in a little water before serving, usually with a poached egg on top. The addition of a slice of ham, which I assume would have been a slice of locally-cured bacon or gammon, plus cream poured over the top and served bubbling hot, made the simpler dish a luxury, possibly for a special occasion. To this day, poached egg and haddock fillet is frequently served for breakfast by Scottish accommodation providers of all kinds. However, it is a dish which is rarely served in people’s homes in the way it once was.

Fresh eggs have received some bad publicity over my lifetime, and for this reason, they fell out of favour completely for periods of time. In a bid to celebrate fresh eggs once again, World Egg Day was fixed for the second Friday in October each year. It has just passed us by, but don’t worry, I had not overlooked this event. Would I dare?

This recipe is one I made at The Three Chimneys many years ago. At one time, I included small Skye prawns in the sauce, instead of bacon and it was always a big hit. I have also served soufflés made with fresh crabmeat, delicious Lanark Blue cheese and Bonnet goats’ cheese with tiny cubes of pear and chopped tarragon. When you go to any restaurant today and order a soufflé, usually for a dessert, there is often a time stated to allow it to be prepared to order for you. In my early years, I had the most basic equipment, but a trend for serving twice-baked soufflés came around which gave me an opportunity to serve this dish in another way, in far less cooking time.

Making the soufflés, allowing them to cool and then re-heating them with a little cream poured over the top, became a popular trick played by many chefs in their restaurants; that is until a reviewer once wrote a review stating they hoped they had seen the last of twice-baked soufflés forever. Point blank, the reviewer did not like them. I don’t expect they remember stating that fact, but I immediately decided I should take them off the menu if they were so frowned upon. Oh! The power of the restaurant reviewer!

But I am not ashamed of them now and using fresh, free-range eggs from a reliable, local source, plus some fresh, lightly smoked fish from your local fishmonger, a few rashers of Scottish bacon and a splash of fresh cream, you can turn out this dish very easily. It will impress your friends for a special meal, or you can serve it twice-baked for breakfast – especially if you are catering for guests. Once tasted, never forgotten.

Ham and haddie soufflé

(Serves 6 or 8 according to size of ramekin dishes. Mine hold 120ml. This quantity fills eight of these, but may fill only six ramekins if they are larger.)

Ingredients

225g undyed, smoked haddock fillet, skin removed

3 rashers of unsmoked lean bacon, chopped finely

1 small onion, chopped finely

2 sprigs parsley with stalk

Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

1 bay leaf

Freshly ground black pepper

Freshly grated nutmeg

50g unsalted butter, plus a little for greasing the ramekins

50g plain flour, sieved

4 large eggs, separated

25g fine white breadcrumbs, mixed with 25g finely grated strong cheddar cheese

Method

1. Take a large shallow saucepan and pour the milk into it. Add the parsley, lemon zest and bay leaf, plus a few twists of black pepper and some grated nutmeg. Lay the fish fillet into the milk over a very low heat. Cook slowly until the fish has become opaque.

2. Using a slotted spoon, lift the fish on to a dish to cool. Pour the milk through a strainer, discarding the contents and reserving the strained milk. Pour the milk into a measuring jug. You will need a full ½ pint, so top-up to that amount if necessary with a splash of cold milk or cream.

3. Using a fork, or your fingers, flake the cooked haddock into small pieces.

4. Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 5, 190°C. Butter the ramekins on the inside all over and sprinkle the butter with an even layer of breadcrumbs and cheese, on the base and on the sides.

5. Place a roasting tin, filled to half its depth with hot water from a kettle, on the middle shelf of the oven. The roasting tin should be large enough to hold all the ramekins.

6. Melt the butter in a saucepan until hot and bubbly. Add the finely chopped onion and bacon, turn in the butter and cook until the onion is soft. Add the flour and stir with the onion and bacon to make a roux. Pour in the warm milk retained from poaching the haddock. Stir until you have made a thick sauce.

7. Whisk the egg yolks and add two tablespoons of the hot sauce to the yolks. Whisk some more and then transfer the mixture to the sauce and stir well. Transfer the sauce to another large mixing bowl, removing all of it from the saucepan with a plastic scraper.

8. Whisk the egg whites until forming stiff peaks. Nothing less will do.

9. Using a large metal spoon, fold two tablespoons of egg whites into the thick sauce to lighten it. Follow this with the remaining egg whites and fold evenly through the sauce, quickly and lightly.

10. Using two dessertspoons, scoop an even quantity of the mixture into each ramekin, filling each one to the rim. Wipe the edges clean with a piece of dry kitchen paper and making a small dent all around the edge of the mixture, next to the rim, with your thumb. Place the ramekins into the hot water in the roasting tin in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes until risen and golden brown.

11. Serve immediately as a lunchtime dish or the starter course for a dinner party.

For Twice-baked Soufflés

Ingredients

You will need a little extra double cream and more of the breadcrumbs and cheese mixture

Method

1. Leave the soufflé to cool completely in their dishes, standing on a wire tray.

2. When cool, use a palette knife and run around the edge of each dish, invert it and tap the bottom to turn out the soufflé in one whole piece.

3. To reheat, place each soufflé in a small ovenproof serving dish. Pour over a little double cream, creating a puddle around the soufflé and sprinkle all over with a little of the breadcrumbs and cheese mixture.

4. Place in the oven for 5 – 10 minutes until puffed up and bubbling. Serve immediately. This makes a great breakfast dish with a difference.