John Torode's cullen skink

Friday 25 January at 5:25pm

With Burns Night just hours away, we head to the Scottish Highlands with John Torode as he cooks his version of a traditional cullen skink.

Cullen skink

Serves: 4

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter

1 small leek, cleaned and finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

350ml water

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm cubes

300g undyed smoked haddock

2 handfuls of fresh parsley, stalks removed

300ml whole milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toasted sourdough slices, to serve

Method

First melt the butter into a saucepan, then add the leek and onion and fry gently. Cook for about 5 minutes until transparent but before it turns brown.
Add the water and potatoes and bring to boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
While the potatoes are cooking, cook the fish - place the haddock in a pan and cover with the milk. Bring to a gentle simmer then cook for about 5 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked and breaks into flakes. Once cool enough to touch, flake the haddock into large pieces and remove any bones.
Now it’s time to bring the soup together. Add any remaining milk to the pan with the potatoes, water, leeks and onions, gently heat through on a medium heat for a further 5 minutes.
Place the flaked haddock evenly into four bowls and place equal amounts of parsley into the bowls as well. Ladle the potato and milk mixture into the bowls, serve with the toasted sourdough bread.