Creamy Smoked Haddock and Potato Soup
A hearty one-pot soup where smoked haddock gently poaches in milk, then meets soft potatoes and sweet leeks. Comforting, high in protein, and ready in one pot.
- Total
- 39 min
- Prep 10 · Cook 29
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Sweating · Poaching
- Savory
- Comforting
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Peel the potatoes and cut them into 2 cm cubes. Trim the leek, slice it in half lengthways, then cut into 1 cm half-moons and rinse well to remove grit.
~8 min
-
Warm 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the sliced leek and a pinch of the salt. Cook, stirring often, until soft and glossy but not browned, about 6 minutes.
~6 min
Sweating leeks in oil without browning draws out their sweetness and keeps the soup's flavor delicate rather than fried.
Sweating Cook leeks over medium-low heat with a pinch of salt until soft and glossy, never browned; if they start to color, lower the heat.
-
Add the potato cubes to the pan and stir for 1 minute. Pour in 200 ml water and 300 ml milk, add the remaining salt and the black pepper, and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, 12 to 15 minutes.
~16 min
Simmering gently prevents the milk from splitting while the potatoes soften and release starch to thicken the broth.
Keep the heat low once the milk goes in: a hard boil can split the milk, while a bare simmer keeps the water silky.
-
Lay the smoked haddock on top of the potatoes, cover, and poach gently until the fish turns opaque and flakes easily with a fork, 5 to 6 minutes. Lift the fish out onto a plate.
~6 min
Gentle poaching keeps the smoked haddock moist and tender, so it flakes instead of turning rubbery.
Poaching Keep the liquid at a bare simmer, small bubbles, no rolling boil, and poach until the fish is opaque and flakes easily, about 5-6 minutes.
-
Mash about half the potatoes against the side of the pan with a potato masher to thicken the water, leaving the rest chunky. Flake the haddock back in, discarding any skin and bones, and stir gently. Taste and adjust the salt and black pepper.
~3 min
Mashing some potatoes releases starch that thickens the broth, while the rest stay chunky for texture.
Smoked haddock is already salty, so taste before adding more salt at the end.