Potted salmon with horseradish & pickled cucumber

 Potted salmon with horseradish and pickled cucumber

serves 4

360-400g fresh salmon skinned and cleaned
1liter court bullion
Small bunch of chives chopped
Small bunch of dill chopped
80g horse radish relish
40g crème fraiche
180g butter
Pinch cayenne pepper
Pinch mace
1 lemon
Salt and pepper

 

Court bullion

Makes about 1 Liter

1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
1/2 fennel bulb, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 sprig thyme
Few parsley stalks
1 sprig tarragon
1 sprig of dill
1/2 lemon, sliced
1 star anise
100ml white wine
1 liter water

Place all the ingredients in a medium pan, cover in cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, and then strain through a muslin-lined sieve.

Place the salmon in a Pyrex dish with a slice of grease proof paper under it. Bring your court bullion back to the boil and pour it over the fish and leave it cool. We only want to just cook the fish so it should be just pink in the middle.

Once the fish has cooled remove from the court bullion and flake the fish into a metal mixing bowl, keeping the flakes chunky. Leave in the fridge for an hour to firm up.

Take the horse radish, crème fraiche, dill and chives, and with a plastic spatula mix them together well.  Taste for seasoning and add a little lemon juice.

Take the salmon from the fridge and fold the horse radish mixture gently through. Put the salmon mixture into your potting dishes, try not to leave any air gaps and smooth the top off.

Add the mace, cayenne pepper to the butter and melt. Keep the pan moving, you don’t need to boil it. When you have the butter melted down to almost an emulsion poor it over the top of the salmon, put on a tray and place in the fridge. You may like to put a small sprig of dill and a pinch of cayenne before the butter sets to garnish.

Pickled Cucumber

1 cucumber, halved and seeded
50ml Chardonnay white wine vinegar
1 large shallot, peeled and thinly sliced
Pinch black mustard seeds
Pinch yellow mustard seeds
10g caster sugar
Pinch salt
Pinch coarsely ground black pepper
Small sprig of dill, finely chopped

Bring the vinegar, shallots, mustard seeds, sugar, salt and pepper to the boil. Pour the hot mix over the cucumbers and leave for 48 hours.  To serve drain the liquid and mix a little olive oil with the cucumbers