This is a quick dish which looks rather exotic and different. Everything has to be rich and dark; well, the soy sauce and the maple syrup at least.

Serve it with a rich and dark red wine. For example, a 2014 Mercurey

Recipe for bedded black lacquered and beechwood-smoked haddock

For two

• 250g/9 oz smoked haddock – two fillets
• 2 tbsp thick dark soya sauce (go here for a link about what type to get – it’s important to get a good quality thick type)
• 80g/3 oz spinach
• 1 aubergine
• Olive oil for roasting and frying
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed with 1 tsp smoked salt
• 1 lime
• Some fresh dill
• 1 tbsp maple syrup (go here for what to look for – you want rich and dark)
• Salt and pepper
• Knob of butter

1. Preheat the oven to 210°C
2. Find a nice ceramic ovenproof dish and cover the bottom with slightly scrunched and oiled foil.
3. Slice the aubergine and oil and season it.
4. Roast one side for ten minutes, then turn and do the same on the other.
5. Meanwhile add a generous glug of olive oil (couple of tbsps.), the garlic, the soy sauce, the maple syrup and some of the dill (chop it first – leave the rest for garnish) to a large frying pan – don’t put onto the heat yet.
6. Add the smoked haddock and coat in the oil. Fry on one side for four minutes and then turn and fry another four minutes. Add the juice and zest of half the lime.
7. Take the aubergines out of the dish they’re in. oil the bottom of the dish, and put the spinach in, drizzling a little oil over it. The dish will warm the spinach. Cover the spinach with slices of aubergine, and then top with the lacquered haddock.
8. Garnish with the rest of the dill, and slices of the remaining lime.