Cullen Skink

This soup originates from the East Coast of Scotland. Skink is Gaelic for "essence" but it is now more commonly means "soup-stew. This is a simple and quick version of cullen skink, traditionally it should be prepared with Finnan (whole smoked haddock), I have also included a few mussels to finish the dish but of course these are optional.

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4-6 Portions

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Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Cullen Skink

1 tbsp butter
1 onion, finely chopped
500g floury potatoes
500ml water or stock (chicken, fish or vegetable)
400g smoked haddock fillet, roughly diced into 2-3cm pieces
16-20 mussels
200ml milk
2 tbsp butter
moldan salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Serve

1-2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
Herb and Stilton Scones (see recipe)
or freshly buttered slices of bread

Method

Cullen Skink: Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a sauce, add the onion to the pan and sweat them for a few minutes until soft. Add the potato, water or stock to the pan and bring it to the boil, then reduce to a strong simmer, and leave it cook for 10 minutes until the potato is tender. Gently stir in the smoked haddock and place the mussels on the top of the soup. Place a lid on the soup and allow it to simmer gently for a couple of minutes, to allow the mussels to open. Any mussels that don't open discard. Pour in the milk and bring it to a strong simmer. Remove the soup from the heat and gently stir in the butter, and season to taste. Serve.
To Serve: Distribute the soup among 4-6 soup bowls. Sprinkle over a little parsley and serve with scones or slices of bread with pepper.