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Quick Smoked Haddock & Spinach Gratins

Speedy, warming supper in minutes? No problem, says olive food editor Janine Ratcliffe

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and haddock work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 41 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep10 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Grease two small ovenproof gratin dishes with a little butter.

  2. Put the spinach in a wide pan with a splash of water over medium heat, turning until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain well, pressing out excess liquid.

  3. Mix the crème fraîche with the Dijon mustard in a small bowl.

  4. Divide the wilted spinach between the two gratin dishes and lay a smoked haddock fillet on each.

  5. Spoon the crème fraîche mixture over the fish, then scatter the grated Gruyère over the top.

  6. Melt a little butter, stir it into the breadcrumbs and sprinkle them over the gratins.

  7. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the top is golden and the haddock is opaque and flakes easily, reaching 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part. Serve hot.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Spinach + haddocktop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Spinach + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together503 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Butter + haddocktop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together764 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Haddock + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together64 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together7,977 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, butter, haddock):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Chivebetter flavor fit
  3. Asparagusabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, butter, haddock. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).