Comfort Food #1

Today has been very hectic, but lovely with it. After the usual Thursday at Stepping Stones we went shopping in Aberystwyth. punctuated nicely by lunch at the excellent Fresh Ground Café on Cambrian Street. It's a brilliant place to go with young children; they offer a £1.99 'pick 4 items' menu for little ones, with choices like cheese on toast, baby bagels and several type of fruit. The meals are served in 'froggy' bowls (I think they're from IKEA), so it has the novelty appeal of a childrens' menu without all the chips.

Having left the house early for playgroup we didn't get back until mid-afternoon, so dinner had to be fairly low on effort, but still good and filling. Kedgeree is my all-time favourite comfort supper and this is how I cook it. I use my electric rice cooker to do the rice, but you could cook it in the microwave, or in a tightly lidded pan on the hob. I generally use smoked coley or hoki for kedgeree, as I do for most dishes needed smoked fish. I avoid using cod or haddock because of the worrying overfishing of these species. Plus coley and hoki tend to be cheaper, so that's a bonus.

Kedgeree

300g smoked fish
milk
1 medium onion, diced
butter
250g basmati rice
fresh parsley, finely chopped
black pepper
2-3 hard-boiled eggs

Poach the fish in just enough milk to cover it. Lift the fillets out out the milk, wrap them in foil and keep warm. Measure the milk in a jug and top the liquid up to 450ml (3/4 pint). Use this liquid to cook the rice (and see above). Meanwhile, fry the onion in a large knob of butter until soft and just tinged with brown. When the rice is cooked, flake in the fish and then stir in the cooked onion and the parsley. Season with plenty of black pepper (no salt, as the fish is usually quite salty enough). Slice the hard-boiled eggs, or cut them into wedges if you prefer, then very gently fold them into the kedgeree.

Kedgeree freezes very well if you leave out the hard-boiled eggs. You can reheat any leftovers (not likely in this house!) in the microwave the next day but, as with all dishes containing rice, please take care to cool it quickly, chill it as soon as it is cool and don't keep it more than a day before thoroughly reheating it.