…earlier this month I spent the day in Grimsby visiting one of the UK’s last remaining traditional smokehouses, Russell’s. I met with third generation fish smoker Dave Tummey who had worked at the smokehouse since he was 13 years old… his passion for the product and the process was clearly evident in the beautiful fish that came out of the ancient chimney’s and I feel privalidged to have met him and to have been given access into this world… the smoked fish is so good that Tesco use it as part of their Finest range and clearly they were also moved by the experience as they have created a beautiful advert all about Russell’s so you can also get a peek into the life of a Grimsby fish smoker!
easily serves 4 as a lunch or 2 as a supper
2 fillets of smoked haddock
200ml milk
1 teaspoon good quality stock powder
1 onion – finely chopped
1 300g packet black dog delicatessen tomato risotto
1 glass of white wine
1 bunch of cavolo nero cabbage leaves
cut the cavolo nero into bite-size portions and steam it until just tender – set aside to cool
place the haddock fillets into a large saucepan, cover with milk, sprinkle with the stock powder and let it simmer gently for 5 minutes. Drain the milk but keep it for using in the risotto. Set the fish aside to cool.
in the same pan (now empty) heat some butter and olive oil and gently saute the onions till soft and translucent then throw in the rice and shimmy it around a bit, then pour in the wine and let it reduce whilst you stir the rice
slowly add the fish-milk, ladle-full at a time, stirring between each addition until the milk is absorbed by the rice before adding the next ladle… keep going until all the milk is used up and the rice is tender and creamy – you may need to have a little more plain veg stock ready just in case you don’t have enough milk
gently crumble the fish into the risotto being careful not to flake it too small, then add the cabbage and mix it together before serving.
a full review of my day at the smokehouse will appear in the November edition of Lincolnshire Life Magazine and an edited version will appear here on the blog in November
eat and of course, enjoy!
This sounds absolutely divine! Can you fix it for Mark to work away from home for a day or two so I can make it when he's not around?
There's such a difference between real smoked fish and the fake coloured and flavoured version. We used to have yellow teas – saffron rice, smoked fish and sweetcorn. I suppose it was a sort of was a low cost version of this or kedgeree. Whilst those ingredients weren't top notch, it means that I now I love the real thing. Dom, you are mean – my stomach is rumbling.
We love Risotto and we love smoked haddock. I may use my last bag from the freezer for this ~ and it came from Grimsby as well!
What a FABULOUS experience and so brilliant to promote one of our best English fishing ports too! Plus, the recipe looks fabulous and has my name all over it as I ADORE finnie haddie!
Quality ingredients al round Dom.
What a great experience that must have been. Genuine smoked fish is absolutely divine!! And the risotto is a great way to showcase it!!
What an absolutely delicious combination of ingredients. Making my mouth water Dom…:)
wow, look at the color of that risotto…
beautifully captured too!
it's very beautiful, thank you
Yummy this sounds delicious, thanks for sharing this.
Simon