Butter poached cod, broccoli and cured ham

4 portions cod approx. 150g each
2 heads broccoli
200ml double cream
500g unsalted butter
8 slices cured ham
100g purple sprouting broccoli

www.thetorridon.com

Serves 4

If properly-sourced cod is hard to come by, monkfish, halibut, brill or any white fish will work. We get our fish from local fishermen and prepare them in house from whole fish down to portions, but you can ask your fish monger to do this for you.

For the broccoli purée, chop one head of broccoli (including the stalk) into evenly sized pieces and cook in boiling salted water until tender. While this is cooking, bring the cream to the boil. Blend with the broccoli, add 100g of the butter and season to taste, then pass through a fine sieve and chill immediately to keep the vibrant colour and flavour. Cut the remaining broccoli head in half lengthwise, chargrill until very black, then chop and reserve for later.

To cook the fish it is important that it comes to room temperature first. Melt the remaining 400g of butter in a pan, add 100ml of water and whisk. Maintaining the temperature at 58˚C, season the fish with salt and carefully place in the warm butter and water. Cook for 8 minutes, then carefully remove from the pan and colour with a blow torch.

Warm the broccoli purée and charred broccoli together while the fish is resting. We cure our own ham at Torridon but any high-quality ham will suffice. Try to source some from a local producer, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Place the purée on the plates, drape over the ham so it starts to melt slightly, and add the cod. We garnish with sprouting broccoli from our garden, which we trim and serve raw for a nice crispy freshness; however if you can’t source this it’s no big deal.