Norwegian Plucked Fish (Plukkfisk)
This hearty fish dish from Norway's West Coast combines any white fish with mashed potatoes, buttery leeks, crisp bacon and a silky white sauce infused with fresh herbs.
This dish is a old-fashioned speciality of Norway’s West Coast. Whenever I visit the city of Bergen I go straight to a cosy pub called ‘Pingvinnen’ (the penguin) where they serve this dish as one of their signatures. ‘Plukkfisk’ means ‘picked/plucked fish’ and originally would be made with any spare offcuts or damaged white fish. The fish is poached in milk with dill and parsley and flaked through mashed potatoes with buttery leeks and crispy bacon. There are a lot of elements to this dish but they leave no spare parts unaccounted. The poaching milk from the fish used to make the white sauce which is infused with dill and parsley. Serve it in a big, wholesome mound with white sauce and extra bacon on top, plus rye crackers for the real Nordic touch! Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS (serves 2-4x)
2x leeks, sliced (white parts only)
knob of butter, for frying
2-3 large, starchy potatoes (red skin, russet or King Edward)
1 knob of butter (for mashing)
100ml of milk (for mashing)
400g cod, haddock or any flaky, white fish
400ml milk
40g flour
40g butter
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1x small bunch parsley – plus extra for garnish
1x small bunch dill
2x bay leaves
1 tsp Dijon mustard
6x rashers of streaky bacon – smoked or unsmoked
To serve: rye crispbreads, crackers
WALKTHROUGH
First, we’ll fry the leeks. Place a small frying pan onto medium heat add a knob of butter and 2x sliced leeks (white parts only). Fry them gently for 8-10 minutes until softened then set them aside.
Now let’s fry some rashers of streaky bacon until crisp. You can pan-fry them or cook them in the oven/or air-fryer at 200C for 8-10 minutes. Set these aside.
Let’s make the mashed potatoes. Place the 2-3 large, peeled and quartered potatoes into a pan of cold, lightly salted water. Place the pan onto high heat and bring the contents to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer the potatoes until they are knife-tender.
Drain the potatoes and add a knob of butter and a dash (100ml) of milk. Mash the potatoes well. They should be fairly stiff here, as we will loosen it out with sauce later. Cover the potatoes and set them aside to stay warm.
Now let’s poach the fish. Into a saucepan, add the 400ml of milk along with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp black pepper. Place the saucepan onto medium heat and heat the milk until it begins to boil. Once boiling, add the small bunch of parsley and/or dill along with 2x bay leaves and simmer for just 1 minute.
Into the hot milk, place the 400g white fish fillets. Simmer them gently for 4-5 minutes until tenderly cooked. Remove the fish fillets and set them aside to drain.
Pour the poaching milk through a sieve into a jug and set it aside for the sauce. Discard the herbs.
Now let’s make the white sauce. In a fresh saucepan, add 40g butter and place it over a medium heat. Once melted and foaming, add the 40g of plain flour. Stir the ingredients together over medium heat for 30 seconds until the smell of the raw flour cooks away.
A little at a time, add the 400ml poaching milk, stirring well between each addition. Gradually add all of the milk, whisking it in, until you have a loose white sauce that is thick enough to coat a spoon. Add 1 tsp of Dijon mustard. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning to your liking.
Just before serving, heat up the white sauce. Gently break half of the cooked white fish into chunks and tenderly stir them into the mashed potatoes with the fried leeks and half of the crispy bacon. Add about a quarter of the white sauce to the mixture to loosen it if needed.
To serve, scoop the mixture onto the serving plate. Place the remaining half of the poached white fish on top. Spoon over the piping hot white sauce and the remaining half of the crispy bacon with some fresh parsley/dill if desired. Serve with rye crackers if you can - enjoy!
