Aishling Moore: Brandade and tomato salad bring smokey, salty flavours for an easy plate of sunshine

Smoked haddock brandade, tomato caper and anchovy salad. Picture: Chani Anderson

Smoked fish is one of my very favourite ways to enjoy seafood. 

There is something so comforting and satisfying about both the flavour and aroma. Excellent smoked fish has the perfect balance of salt, smoke and fat. 

Nobody achieves this balance quite like Sally Barnes. Sally set up Woodcock Smokery just outside Skibbereen in west Cork some 40 years ago and is the last artisan in Ireland who exclusively smokes wild fish. 

Sally’s smoked salmon is famous worldwide for its mind-melting deliciousness. With the dwindling stocks of wild salmon in Ireland and year-on-year reduction in quotas Sally has diversified her offering but stayed true to her ethos. 

Hot and cold smoked albacore tuna and cold smoked haddock and pollock are among her product range. 

A pillar of the Irish food industry, Sally is as committed about education and the exchange of information as she is about wild fish, nurturing the next generation of artisans and chefs.

Brandade, a dish that’s featured on our menu more times than not since we opened Goldie, has become one of our signatures. 

We typically use salt fish in our brandade as it’s something we always have in our larder, salting gluts and trim from the excellent wild fish we receive. 

In this recipe I’ve opted for some smoked haddock. It’s easily available and the smokiness works so well with Irish tomatoes which have been especially late this year.

This recipe works fantastically served as one of several dishes or to accompany a whole barbequed or roasted fish; it is a joy served to eat with some crusty bread for lunch too. 

Do seek out Cantabrian anchovies for this dressing, a delicacy that hails from the very well managed fishery in the Bay of Biscay where they have been hand-canning seafood for centuries.

Smoked haddock brandade with tomato, caper & anchovy salad

Brandade, a dish that’s featured on our menu more times than not since we opened Goldie, has become one of our signatures.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 25 mins

Cooking Time

 35 mins

Total Time

 60 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• Smoked haddock brandade:

• 1 onion diced

• 4 garlic cloves

• 100ml white wine

• 550g potatoes, diced

• 300g smoked haddock, diced

• Juice of half a lemon

• 2 tbsp rapeseed oil

• Tomato, caper & anchovy salad:

• 1kg tomatoes, cut into 2-inch chunks

• 3 whole Cantabrian anchovies, chopped

• 1.5 tbsp capers, drained

• 4 tbsp rapeseed oil

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• lemon, juice and zest

• 1 pinch sea salt

• ¼ tsp black pepper

• Basil leaves, to garnish

Method

1. The brandade:

2. Heat the rapeseed oil in a small heavy based pot over a medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic and sweat until soft and sweet, approximately 15 minutes.

3. Turn up the heat to medium high and add the white wine. Bring to the boil and reduce until completely evaporated.

4. Add the diced potato and smoked haddock to the pot and top up with 300ml water. Bring to the boil and pop a lid on. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes until the potato is just cooked.

5. Once the potato is cooked remove the lid and bring to the boil to evaporate the water, stirring all the time to prevent catching.

6. Emulsify the contents of the pot with a hand blender. Add the lemon juice, taste, and season, depending on the smoked haddock the brandade may require a little more salt.

7. Place some greaseproof paper directly over the brandade as it cools to prevent a skin from forming.

8. Serve at room temperature or warm, but never cold. The brandade will keep for three days in the refrigerator.

9. The dressing:

10. To make the dressing combine the anchovy, capers, rapeseed oil, garlic, lemon zest and juice, sea salt and black pepper in a small bowl and mix well.

11. Add to the tomatoes and dress well to coat.

12. To serve, smear the brandade across a large platter and place the dressed tomatoes on top. Add a spoon of the dressing over the top of the tomatoes and brandade and garnish with some fresh basil leaves.

Chef know-how

Be sure to cook off the wine once you’ve added it in to the brandade, the taste of uncooked wine will ruin this dish.

Smoked haddock is one of the few seafood products that freezes especially well in household freezers. It’s something I always like to have a stash of at home for a quick chowder or risotto.

Smoked haddock typically comes with bones still intact so be mindful of this when dicing the fillets.

The anchovy and caper dressings works equally well with grilled green vegetables, steamed new potatoes or a piece of baked fish.