River Dart wild salmon, Oscietra caviar, salmon jelly, cucumber, honey & soy vinaigrette, wasabi & Greek yoghurt vinaigrette

Allister Barsby

Allister Barsby

12th September 2014
Allister Barsby

River Dart wild salmon, Oscietra caviar, salmon jelly, cucumber, honey & soy vinaigrette, wasabi & Greek yoghurt vinaigrette

A popular choice due to its versatile flavour, salmon is a delicious addition to any recipe. Put your culinary skills to the test with the following River Dart wild salmon, Oscietra caviar, salmon jelly, cucumber, honey & soy vinaigrette, wasabi & Greek yoghurt vinaigrette recipe. This recipe is inspired by two cooking cultures, Chinese and Norwegian. The dill and salmon come straight from gravlax and five spice powder, honey and soy are pure Chinese. The salmon jelly just melts in the mouth and adds another texture to everything. I like to finish off with micro leaves and herbs from our kitchen garden at Gidleigh: dill, purple basil and borarge flowers are particularly good.

Ingredients

  • For the salmon:
  • 600g wild salmon fillet, skin on
  • 15g sugar
  • 15g sea salt
  • Lemon - zested, peeled and segmented (the segments reserved for garnishing)
  • Pinch of freshly ground pepper
  • For the cucumber:
  • 1 cucumber – peeled, deseeded and cut into 7cm lengths
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped dill
  • A splash of groundnut vinaigrette
  • Salt
  • For the honey and soy vinaigrette:
  • 50ml clear honey
  • Pinch of Chinese five spice powder
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 10ml balsamic vinegar
  • 100ml white wine vinegar
  • 10ml soy sauce
  • 200ml extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • For the wasabi and Greek yoghurt vinaigrette:
  • 25ml double cream
  • 1½ teaspoons wasabi
  • 50ml Greek yoghurt
  • Salt and pepper
  • For the salmon jelly (stock):
  • 1 salmon carcass
  • 50g onion, chopped
  • 35g leeks, chopped
  • 1 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 250g tomatoes, chopped
  • 75g fennel, finely chopped
  • 2 parsley stalks
  • ½ star anise
  • 1 small sprig of thyme
  • ¼ stick of celery
  • 1 tablespoon white peppercorns, crushed
  • 50ml Noilly Pratt
  • 100ml white wine
  • 700ml water
  • For the stock clarification (for salmon jelly)
  • 125g salmon trimmings
  • 2 egg whites
  • 30g ice
  • 3 leaves of gelatine
  • Salt and pepper
  • For garnish:
  • 4 lemon segments, cut into 5 equal pieces
  • Handful of micro herbs (eg purple basil)
  • 18 borage flowers
  • Keta caviar (salmon roe)
  • Oscietra caviar

Method

Serves 4
Salmon:
Prepare a marinade by mixing together the sugar, salt, lemon zest and pepper.
Place the salmon on a tray and cover with the marinade, then leave it for 8 hours.
After this wash and skin the fillet, trimming off any brown meat.
Cut the fillet in half lengthways, then cut half twice more, wrap the fish in clingfilm and place it in the fridge for several hours to firm up, ideally overnight.
Slice the cucumber on a mandolin into 2mm x 3mm strips.
Trim evenly then place the slices in a colander over a dish and scatter salt over them.
The slices should be left for 10 minutes to draw out the water, then rinsed thoroughly with water and dried off with a clean cloth.
Place the strips on a tray and freeze the cucumber briefly, then take out and defrost.
Cover with a pinch of chopped dill and some groundnut vinaigrette and marinate until ready to serve.
Honey and soy vinaigrette:
Put the honey, Chinese five spice powder and mustard together in a bowl and mix well until blended. Then whisk in, separately, the balsamic vinegar, white wine vinegar and soy sauce. Once the ingredients have been blended together, using a hand blender and gradually add the olive oil slowly until it is completely mixed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Wasabi and Greek yogurt vinaigrette:
Whisk the cream and wasabi together until stiff.
Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl then fold in the Greek yoghurt and season with salt and pepper.
For the salmon jelly:
Put all the stock ingredients together in a large saucepan over a medium heat and bring to the boil.
Reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 30 minutes, then strain the stock through a colander and then a fine sieve.
Pour it back into the saucepan and simmer over a medium heat until it has reduced its volume by one third.
Next clarify the stock.
Blitz the salmon trimmings with the egg whites and salt in a liquidiser. Once mixed together blend in the ice and put to one side.
Bring the stock back to the boil, then whisk in the clarification mixture and bring the stock back to the boil. stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
Reduce to a simmer and leave to cook for 10 minutes, then remove the stock from the heat and pass it through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan.
Put this over a medium heat and bring the strained stock back to the boil.
Correct the seasoning and add the leaves of gelatine.
Line a tray with clingfilm and pour in the stock to a thickness of 1cm. Put in the fridge to set.
Once set, take out and cut into small cubes.
Serving:
Remove the salmon from the fridge.
Heat up a saucepan of water to 40ºC over a low heat, drop in the salmon (still in its clingfilm) and poach for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, place some of the cucumber slices on your plates and sprinkle these with some keta caviar.
Dot some blobs of the honey and soy vinaigrette around the plate, add the lemon segments and fill in the gaps with some blobs of wasabi and Greek yoghurt vinaigrette.
Add some salmon jelly cubes and then the salmon– three pieces per person – and finish with the micro salad leaves, borage flowers and keta and oscietra caviar.

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