Easy cheesy cod gratin

Sunday supermarket shopping means plenty of bargains – this week, filled the freezer with fish. 

So cod for tea and as the August rain lashed horizontally at the windows I felt the need for something warm and comforting. 

Any flakey/smoked fish would work with this. 

Start by putting the oven on to warm up to 200 degrees. 

First poach the fish – barely cover it with milk in a pan and gently poach for five minutes. 

At the same time, fry an onion and crushed clove of garlic in a little butter. 

Take the fish off, lift out the fish pieces and strain the milk into a jug. 

Make a cheese sauce using the fish poaching milk. Add some grated nutmeg and chopped parsley. Check the seasoning after adding the cheese. 

While that’s cooking out a bit, make some breadcrumbs. Pop some days-old bread (dry it out in the oven if fresh), parsley, Parmesan and lemon zest. Season with black pepper. 

Put everything together in an oven -roof dish – flake the fish, stir in the onion mix, add some peas and cover with the cheese sauce. Top with the crumbs. 

Bake for about ten minutes – finish off under the grill if it’s not golden brown from the oven. 

Served it simply with green veg and crusty bread. 

I paired it with a Marston’s Old Empire IPA.