Cullen Skink is an extremely easy and nutritiously tasty meal which has been a little forgotten in recent years, serve with your homemade bread  to make a filling alternative to meat and two veg.

Cullen Skink

Serves 4

• 2 pieces of smoked haddock or smoked cobbler
• 1 large onion chopped
• 4 largish potatoes peeled and diced
• 300 mls of hot water
• 300 mls milk or 1 tin of evaporated milk for a creamier end result
• 25g butter for frying
• a handful of parsley to finish

1. In a large pot heat the butter and fry the onion for 5mins
2. Add the potatoes and the hot water and cook for 15 mins (soup base)
3. In a separate pot place the fish in the milk and slowly cook for around 5mins.
4. Remove the fish from the milk and retain the milk for later
5. When the fish has cooled flake in to large pieces and add to the soup
6. Add the milk to your soup mixture, if it looks like the milk has split which is very common, sieve it into the pot.
7. Continue to cook until the potatoes are soft if they are not already.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.
9. Serve and sprinkle over the chopped parsley to finish.

Everybody deserves a treat and often takeaway is the obvious solution but like many others the cost for me can outweigh any benefits, so next week we are going to do another takeaway favourite, Chinese Black Bean. The initial outlay may seem rather expensive but remember the ingredients needed for Chinese and Indian foods last for many more meals than just one takeaway. 

For this you shall need 300g of either chicken or beef, 2 large onions, garlic, one pepper red or green your choice, mushrooms, soy sauce and black bean paste, I use