Smoked Haddock Natas

Smoked Haddock Natas

It was six o’clock and Mr Glam came barreling through the door arms laden with bottles of white and red announcing that he’d invited some friends for drinks in two hours.  We had a few cashews in the cupboard and a bag of crisps, I was going to have to pull something together from whatever was in the fridge.

Smoked Haddock Natas With Micro Garlic Chives

A packet of puff pastry and some pieces of smoked haddock meant that the main ingredients were available for savoury Natas.  A crispy cup of savoury custard, baked to perfection with fragrant smoked haddock and a few micro garlic chives that I’d bought to put in a salad.

This is such a flexible recipe, you can add any savoury ingredients that will cook in 15 minutes in the oven.  Smoked salmon, asparagus, tomato and goat’s cheese, Parmesan and spring onions (scallions).  The options are endless.

Smoked Haddock Natas

RECIPE

Smoked Haddock Savoury Natas

 

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Ingredients

• 1 packet Puff pastry 320g
• Butter for greasing
• 250ml Full fat milk
• ½ Small onion
• 3 Cloves
• 2 Bay leaves
• 5 Whole black peppercorns
• 3 Large Egg yolks
• 25g Plain flour
• 250g Smoked haddock (Cut into small pieces)
• 50g Grated cheese
• Micro garlic chives or chopped chives (For garnish)

Method

1. Grease 10 holes of a deep muffin tin and preheat the oven to 170c
2. Roll out the pastry sheet just enough to cut 10 9cm circles. Place in the greased muffin tin and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, place the milk in a pan. Stick the cloves into the onion and place in the milk with the bay leaves and peppercorns. Bring just to a boil, remove from the heat and leave to steep for at least 15 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and then add the flour and whisk to combine. It may look lumpy at first but will smooth out as you whisk.
5. Sieve the milk and add, bit by bit, whisking continually to the egg and flour mixture. Pour back into the pan and place on a medium heat stirring continually until the custard coats the back of the wooden spoon.
6. Pour into a clean bowl and place a piece of cling film directly onto the custard, to stop it forming a skin and set aside to cool.
7. Remove the pastry cases from the fridge. Fill evenly with the smoked haddock pieces, spoon the custard on top and sprinkle with a little cheese. Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the custard still has a slight wobble. Remove from the oven, serve hot or cold sprinkled with the micro garlic chives.

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