Chez Chelle - Spinach

This weeks key ingredient for week 2 of Chez Chelle over at 'Chelle's Place' is SPINACH! Now being a very strong flavoured vegetable it has an acquired taste but it is so good for,you that I do try and use it in some recipes. This one I have only made once but it is absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, despite having the ingredients to make this today when I opened the fish it did not smell right so I have no photo of my own to use. However, I will use the photo that accompanies the recipe from the website that I discovered it (the BBC Good Food Magazine such a great recipe bible!)

So here is my spinach recipe for this week:

Smoked Haddock & Spinach Rarebit




Ingredients

FOR THE RAREBIT SAUCE

50g butter
50g plain flour
a dash of Worcestershire sauce
600ml milk
100g mature cheddar grated
2 tbsp mustard

FOR THE FISH

50g unsalted butter
1 garlic clove , crushed
550g cherry tomatoes , halved
700g prepared spinach washed if necessary
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
550g undyed smoked haddock fillets ( you could use unsmoked haddock or cod) skinned and checked for bones
50g cheddar grated

Method

Preheat the oven to fan 170C/ conventional 190C/gas 5.

To make the rarebit sauce, melt the butter in a heavybased saucepan and stir in the flour and Worcestershire sauce. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly whisk in the milk until combined. Return to the heat and slowly bring to the boil, stirring or whisking constantly. Simmer for 2 minutes then mix in the grated cheese and mustard, season well with salt and pepper and set aside.

For the fish, melt a third of the butter in a large non-stick frying pan, add the garlic and cook until just coloured. Then add the tomatoes and mix them with the garlic butter, cooking just enough to heat through. Tip the mixture into the base of a shallow baking dish and spread in an even layer. Melt half the remaining butter in the frying pan and add some of the spinach, cook over a high heat until wilted then tip into a colander. Repeat with the remaining butter and spinach, then press the spinach to drain off any excess liquid, season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg and arrange to cover the tomato layer. Then place the fish fillets on top.

Heat the rarebit sauce and spoon evenly over the fish, spreading it with the back of a spoon so the fish is completely covered, then scatter the grated cheese over the top.

Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until brown and bubbling and the fish is cooked through.

I like to serve this with warm crusty bread.