Cookbook of the week - Rhodes around Britain

 

    Off the shelf this week has come Gary Rhodes' Rhodes Around Britain, a book of (mostly) traditional British cookery, from which we've had one of his signature dishes, Smoked Haddock with Welsh Rarebit.

    You make a large quantity of the rarebit mixture (Cheddar cheese, milk, flour, breadcrumbs, whole eggs and yolks, mustard powder and Worcester sauce) so you can keep what you don't need today in the fridge or freezer for instant but superior cheese on toast at any time.

   

    For the dish itself, make a tomato salad with a good vinaigrette (yes, I used one of these), then cover the smoked haddock with the rarebit mixture and bake for a few minutes, finishing off under a hot grill or with a blow torch. The combination is a good one, and of course for those who don't eat fish, just have the very savoury rarebit on tomatoes on sourdough bread or similar.

Comments

[Ros]

Ooh, I have that on my shelf and the ingredients in the fridge. Well, not the haddock, but I have nice bread. Sounds like a perfect Sunday night supper.

[Cornflower]

GR does say to chill the rarebit mixture for some time before use, but if pushed you might press it onto greaseproof paper on a baking sheet and speed up the process by putting it in the freezer to chill (once it was cool enough). If you think it's a workable consistency without the chilling, just spoon it onto the bread and away you go!

[ctussaud]

Another excellent blend of two separate dishes is AWT's cottage pie without mash on top, but cauliflower cheese instead. Serve spuds if desired on the side.

[Cornflower]

Oh, yes! I am a great fan of cauliflower cheese so I'd love that. Thankyou, Curzon.

[adele geras]

What a wonderful find! A proper rarebit recipe and Curzon's cottage pie and cauliflower recipe. I have a nice cauli recipe coming up on the History Girls blog tomorrow. Love that under-appreciated veg.

[Erika]

2 more great ideas for cauliflower: shepherd's pie and Adele G's, which I have just made notes of. I am unimaginative with this vegetable although I like it a lot.