Cullen skink with a poached egg

This week’s recipe is technically a soup but could be a meal in itself; a fish and potato dish that gets its name from the fishing village of Cullen, in Morayshire. "Skink" is a soup made originally from a shin of beef but in this case, the main ingredient is smoked haddock. Traditionally served on Burns night, the usual recipe comprises just fish, potato, onion, milk and parsley but this recipe is a little different as we currently serve it in the restaurants with a poached egg on top.

As with most soups this dish is one of the easiest things to make – unless like me, you have a difficulty with professional-looking poached eggs but there’s a tip for this in the recipe. However, the important thing is to try and make sure that the smoked haddock is of the un-dyed sort. Somehow I can’t bring myself to trust the fluorescent yellow stuff.

Serves four

Two fillets of un-dyed smoked haddock - skinned
One large onion – peeled and diced
Three celery sticks – diced
One leek – split open, washed and chopped
Five potatoes – peeled and diced
Two litre of semi-skimmed milk
A handful or two of chopped parsley
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Four eggs

Run your hand over the haddock fillets and, if you feel any bones, remove them with tweezers or snipe-nosed pliers. Then cut the fish into bite-sized chunks.

Starting with the poached eggs, you can cook them anyway you’re used to but I do like the spherical ones good chefs can do. They do them by swirling the water in a pan before dropping in the eggs but it rarely works for me. So I recently came up with the idea of laying a piece of clingfilm across a saucer, spreading a little vegetable oil on it and cracking an egg into the middle (the oil stops the egg sticking to the film). Gather the clingfilm together and twist well to seal, being careful not to have any air trapped inside. Repeat with the other three eggs before dropping them into a pan of simmering water for around four minutes or until set. These can be done in advance and then dropped, still in their clingfilm wraps, into cold water to stop them cooking.

To make the soup, put the potatoes and milk into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for around ten minutes and then add the onion, celery and leek. Continue to simmer for another five minutes or so before adding the fish. Simmer for another couple of minutes before removing from the heat. You’ll notice that the potatoes have started to break-down slightly with their starch starting to thicken the soup. Taste and adjust the seasoning before stirring in the chopped parsley and spooning into warmed bowls.

A minute before the pre-cooked eggs are needed, drop them again into simmering water for 30 seconds to heat through before removing them, cutting the clingfilm with scissors and placing the perfect poached egg on top of your skink.