venta

Every so often you hear of an odd combination of ingredients someone is cooking, and think "no, really?". Oh yes, they assure you, really. Sometimes, of course, you think "no, just no" (a colleague of mine recently recommended chicken-breast stuffed with nutella. Eww. I mean, he likes it, go him. But I don't think I'll be trying it.)

Yesterday, wondering what to cook out of the things I had available, I was suddenly moved to wonder whether smoked haddock and pesto would be a good idea.

(I originally typed "smoked haddock and peston", there. No economic pontificating was involved in, or harmed by, this cooking episode.)

I sprinkled some lemon juice on the haddock, covered it with pesto and popped it, wrapped up in foil, into the oven to bake. And cooked some gnocchi to go with it. (And tidied the kitchen, and managed to take a chunk out of the back of my hand on the hinges of the spare-room wardrobe).

Aesthetes will be pleased to know I was using undyed smoked haddock, so the sight of a fillet coated with bright green sauce wasn't too much of a visual assault.

Anyway, it wasn't vile, it was... fine. OK. But I'm not really sure the ~~peston~~ (damn, did it again) pesto brought anything very much to the party, really. Smoked fish is a strong flavour, and while I'd thought the smokiness might compliment the pesto it didn't, it just quietly overruled it.

In summary: no.