Tom Kerridge's smoked haddock omelette
It’s week one of Lockdown, so Tom's in the kitchen ready to share one of the most popular dishes from the menu at The Hand & Flowers, celebrating 15 years in service and The Hand & Flowers Cookbook.
Tom shows us how easy it is to make his delicious smoked haddock omelette - a restaurant-worthy dish that’s easy to make for yourself at home!
Smoked haddock omelette
Recipe taken from the Hand & Flowers cookbook
Serves: 4
Ingredients
Poached smoked haddock
1 side of smoked haddock, 600g, skin and pin bones removed
600ml whole milk
Smoked fish béchamel
250ml smoked poaching liquor (as per ingredients above and in method)
15g unsalted butter
15g plain flour
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Omelette glaze
4 tbsp warm smoked haddock bechamel (as per ingredients above and in method)
4 tbsp hollandaise sauce (*if you’d like to make your own, see recipe below)
4 medium free-range egg yolks
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
For the Omelette
12 medium free-range eggs
4 tbsp unsalted butter
100g aged Parmesan, finely grated
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Method
1. For the poached smoked haddock: check the smoked haddock for any tiny pin bones. Bring the milk to the boil in a wide-based saucepan. Carefully lay the smoked haddock in the pan, ensuring it is covered by the milk. Place a lid on the pan, turn off the heat and leave the fish to poach in the residual heat for about 10 minutes.
2. Once the haddock is cooked, remove it from the milk and gently flake the fish into a tray lined with greaseproof paper. Cover the tray with cling film and place in the fridge until ready to serve.
3. Pass the milk through a fine chinois into a clean saucepan and keep to one side
4. For the smoked fish béchamel: bring the smoked haddock poaching liquor to a gentle simmer.
5. In a separate pan over a medium-low heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour to make a roux and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Gradually ladle in the warm poaching liquor, stirring as you do so to keep the sauce smooth. Cook gently over a very low heat for 20 minutes.
6. Pass the sauce through a fine chinois and cover the surface with a piece of baking parchment or cling film to prevent a skin forming. Set aside until needed. (You won’t need all of the fish bechamel but you can freeze the rest.)
7. For the omelette glaze: Gently warm the bechamel in a saucepan then pour into a bowl and whisk in the hollandaise and egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper to taste and pass through a chinois into a warm jug or bowl. Keep warm to stop the glaze from splitting.
8. For the omelette" crack the eggs into a jug blender and blend briefly to combine. Pass through a fine sieve into a measuring jug. Place 4 individual omelette pans over a low heat.
9. Take the smoked haddock from the fridge, remove the cling film and lay on a grill tray. Warm under the salamander or grill.
10. To each omelette pan, add 1 tbsp butter and heat until melted and foaming. Pour the blended egg into the pans, dividing it equally. Using a spatula, gently move the egg around in the pans until they start to firm up. Remove from the heat; you want the eggs to be slightly loose, as they will continue to cook off the heat.
11. Season the omelettes with salt and pepper and sprinkle the grated Parmesan over their surfaces. Divide the flaked smoked haddock between the omelettes, then spoon on the glaze to cover the fish and extend to the edge of the pans. If the glaze spills over the side of the pan, wipe it away, as this will burn on the side when blowtorching.
12. To finish, wave a cook’s blowtorch over the surface of the omelettes to caramelise the glaze. Allow the glaze to become quite dark, as the bitterness will balance out the richness of all the other ingredients.
Hollandaise sauce
Ingredients:
For the shallot puree (makes 500g)
500g banana shallots, peeled and sliced
75ml white wine vinegar
75ml white wine
For the Hollandaise (makes 300g)
250g unsalted butter
2 medium free-range egg yolks
30ml double cream
1 tbsp shallot puree (as per ingredients above and in method)
20ml Cabernet Sauvignon red wine vinegar
Juice of ½ lemon, or to taste
Sea salt and cayenne pepper
Method
1. Put the shallots, wine vinegar and white wine into a vacuum-pack bag and place in a pressure cooker. Fill the cooker with water and cook on full pressure for 1 ½ hours.
2. Remove from the cooker and open the bag when it is cool enough to handle. Strain off the liquid into a clean saucepan, and tip the cooked shallots into a blender.
3. Reduce the liquor until thickened to a glaze, then pour the reduction onto the shallots and puree until smooth. Use straight away or store in small vacuum-pack bags in the fridge and use within 1 week.
4. For the hollandaise: place the butter in a saucepan over a low heat to melt slowly and separate. Skim off the froth from the surface.
5. Carefully pour the clear yellow butter into a jug, leaving the milky layer behind. Allow the clarified butter to cool slightly, until warm but not hot. Reserve the buttermilk too.
6. Meanwhile, put the egg yolks, cream and shallot puree into a heatproof bowl and set over a bain-marie. Whisk until pale and thickened to create a thick sabayon.
7. Remove from the heat and slowly ladle the warm clarified butter into the sabayon, whisking constantly as you so do. Once the hollandaise is fully emulsified, slowly add the buttermilk, whicksing to incorporate (you won’t come across this in a classic recipe but we have found it helps to stop the sauce splitting).
8. Season with the wine vinegar and salt, cayenne and lemon juice to taste. Pass through a chinois into a container and keep warm until ready to serve.