Smoked Haddock, Poached Egg & Cheesy Veggies with a Twist!

Some of you may or may not know that in a previous lifetime, before I came to live in SW France, a land of beautiful countryside, glorious Summers and relative isolation, I lived and worked in the heart of London. In fact, my job was in Camden town, utterly vibrant, eclectic and full of character…(s)!

My life then was a world away from how it looks today. It was a wonderful, spirited time, lived hungrily. I do not regret my decision to move here to tranquility and change to a more gentle tempo. But sometimes I do look back and wonder at how I made that change work.

Moving here allowed me to make my passion my job. Now I write this blog and I am a private chef. Not a path that I envisaged my life would take, but one that I am profoundly happy about.

As I write this post, I am feeling wistful. It’s funny how certain dishes can do that to you don’t you think? The smell of cinnamon transports me back to my Grandmothers Swedish kitchen, cheese Doritos take me back to university, and the whiff of Tequila makes me nauseous (but thats another story!).

A while back I posted a recipe for Courgette Noodle Carbonara and at that time I longed for a bit of cool kitchen kit called a Vegetable Spiralizer. Well, I now have one and whilst I was messing around with it, I was struck with the idea for this dish which is an homage to many a Sunday spent in a restaurant round the corner from where I used to live (Hugo’s) where I would indulge in Bloody Mary’s and the ultimate comforting, soft, smoked haddock, poached egg and hollandaise sauce.

Oh my, lovely, lazy, carefree Sundays.

This dish takes the main players – smoked haddock & poached egg – but I placed them on top of a bed of vegetable noodles, smothered in creamy cheese sauce. The fish is potent, the egg is soft and the vegetables are marvelously textured and twisty!

Food and memories, intertwined and really rather wonderful.

Smoked Haddock, Poached Egg & Cheesy Vegetable Noodles

(Serves 2)

2 fillets of smoked haddock (undyed if you can find it, I couldn’t)
1 large courgette
2 carrots
25g butter
2 heaped tbsp plain flour
400ml milk
150g grated cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs

Start by making your vegetable noodles. I used my lovely ‘Vegetable Spiralizer’ but if you don’t have one, your could use a mandolin or failing that, coarsely grate them.

Spiralizer Carrot Noodles

Set your noodles to one side for now. Now prepare your fish. Check for bones and then cook in any way your choose. I poached my fillets in water for 7 minutes. Then I removed them and peeled off the skin.

Whilst your fish is poaching, you can make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, take off the heat and stir in the flour to create a paste. Place back on the heat and add your milk a little at a time stirring constantly until it is all combined and the sauce is nice and thick. Then remove from the heat and stir in your cheese which will melt and season. Put this sauce to one side.

Now it is time to stir fry your vegetable noodles. Heat olive oil in a frying pan and add the vegetables and sauté for 5 minutes until cooked but still with a bite.

Vegetable noodles or spaghetti

Meanwhile, poach your eggs in boiling water for 3 minutes.

Add the cheese sauce to the vegetable noodles and stir to combine. Then place a pile of cheesy noodles on a plate, top with a fillet of fish and finally, a poached egg. Then eat and feel comforted….

Smoked haddock, poached egg & cheesy vegetable noodles

I am entering this dish into a few challenges. First off, Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa of Eat Your Veg this month and alternately by me. The theme is ‘Something Fishy’.

Next up, I am entering this into Javelin Warrior’s Made With Love Mondays as it was made entirely from scratch and is all the better for it.

Made with Love Mondays, hosted by Javelin Warrior

And finally, I am entering it into #RecipeoftheWeek which can be found over on A Mummy Too.

Link up your recipe of the week

20 thoughts on “Smoked Haddock, Poached Egg & Cheesy Veggies with a Twist!”

  1. That sounds like a very tasty dinner Anneli, and lovely that it’s evocative of such happy carefree memories!. Comfort food yumtastic. Glad you purchased a Spiraliser, such a cool name that I may just have to invest in one myself. Reckon my kids would love their veggies curly too!. Great #SomethingFishy entry.

    1. Thanks Lou! My Spiralizer is just so cool – I am going to have a lot more fun with it I am sure. Lots of lovely raw salads in the Summer too no doubt. Great for kids too. xx

  2. Ahhhh….. delicious! I love smoked haddock and poached egg. Takes me back to childhood! The veggies add a lovely twist. Nice gadget……. Looks like fun!

  3. Absolutly fab….will try very soon. Anneli could you please, if you have some fast and easy recepies, share with us. I started the Beauty salon in Valence sur Baise, so evening can be hectic. But I still feel like having nice dinner. Love your machine. Will call you for more détails, if that’s ok with you.

    1. Thanks Daniela! So happy you have stopped by to leave me a comment 🙂 I have lots of quick and tasty recipes for sure and I am always happy to share. Good luck with salon, I must stop by and say hello (and let you make me beautiful!) xx

  4. I don’t own a spiralizer, but I have seen them in action, and the results are always delicious. Now you’ve got me craving a good bowl of veggie noodles (which are even tastier than their pasta equivalents)… Yum!

    1. Thanks Mark. I agree veggie noodles are so good – such a nice texture and bite and so much more flavour than their pasta siblings. Nothing wrong with craving big bowls of veggies, it could be a lot worse! xx

    1. Hi Deena. I can highly recommend my spiralizer! The veggie noodles have a really great texture and can be used in so many ways. A great little gadget xx

  5. I would love a spiraliser they are so cool. I just can’t find the space for it. Your dish sounds so perfectly comforting. A dish that I could eat far too much of and have seconds. I am sure you must miss London but then so do I. Hope you get to visit and get your fix soon!

    1. I know what you mean about space Laura and the spiralizer is not small as such! To be fair, I have not found a proper home for it yet, it kind of just gets tucked away wherever there is a bit of space! I do miss London from time to time and I certainly like to get a little fix but then again, Spring has sprung here and I love this time of year so London will have to wait. x

  6. I want one! Well, actually, I want both the spiralizer and the dish. I’ve even seen smoked haddock here recently. I really want that gadget…. Ack! I see someone already found them on Amazon!!!!

  7. What a cool looking gadget! And a great looking dish too 🙂 Thanks so much for linking up with #recipeoftheweek. I’ve pinned and tweeted this post and hope to see you linking up again soon! 😀 x

Comments are closed.