CRAVEN College’s Jamie Fletcher provides another of his favourite recipes - which is an ideal for quick supper or early brunch. He has more than 10 years’ experience working in bars and restaurants, including a 15-month stint as a sous-chef in the South of France.

SMOKED haddock, with its thick flesh and strong flavours takes well to a hash.

This smoked haddock and bacon hash with poached eggs cooks quickly and doesn’t require too much preparation – even less if you can get the fishmonger to prepare the fish for you.

This makes an excellent quick supper (or even a Saturday-morning brunch). If you feel you need something extra on the side, then this dish goes well with buttered spinach.

The quantities given should serve two hungry people.

Ingredients:

300-350g un-died smoked haddock fillet

100g/5-6 slices smoked streaky bacon

500g Waxy potatoes such as Charlotte

5 spring onions

25g butter

1 tablespoon oil

Small bunch of chopped parsley

2 Eggs

Splash of red wine vinegar

Method:

Scrub the potatoes and boil until almost tender, around 10 – 12 minutes. Drain and leave until they are to cool enough to handle. Carefully peel all the potatoes and chop into bite-size chunks and set aside.

While the potatoes are cooking, chop the bacon into small pieces and fry in the oil and butter until it starts to crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside to drain on kitchen paper.

Trim the spring onions by removing the dark green tops and finely slice the rest.

Trim and skin the haddock fillet and remove any small bones. Chop into strips and then into chunks around 2-3 cm; alternatively get the fishmonger to do this for you when you buy the fish.

Add the peeled diced potatoes to the pan and fry gently until they start to crisp up. Toss them around the pan once or twice but don’t stir too much, otherwise you’ll end up with a pan of disintegrated spuds.

Once the potatoes have started to brown, tip in the sliced spring onions and stir. After a minute or two, add the chunks of smoked haddock.

Now tip in the bacon pieces and fry for a few minutes until you can tell that the fish is cooked through – this will be when the flesh has turned white. Add in some parsley at this point and some black pepper if you wish – you shouldn’t need to add any extra salt because of the bacon and the smoked fish, but taste and add if you wish. Turn down the heat and keep the hash warm.

Now bring a small pan of water to the boil, add the vinegar and turn down to a simmer. Gently add both the eggs and cook until the white is set but the yolk is runny – about two and a half minutes depending on your eggs. You don’t want to overcook the yolk as this provides the ‘sauce’ for the dish. Remove, drain and serve on top of the hash.