Summary
Servings:
4
Prep time:
30 minutes
Description
Home-cured smoked salmon is served with scallops cooked in hay and pickled cucumber. For this recipe you will need a safe place to smoke the scallops such as a home smoker or a barbecue.
Ingredients
- 9 oz high-quality salmon fillet, mid piece, skin on
- 75g fine sea salt
- 20g caster sugar
- 2 teaspoon coarsely ground white peppercorns
- 5 dill, roughly chopped
Instructions
- For the gravlax, put the salmon in a sealable plastic food bag. Mix all the the remaining ingredients and pour them into the bag. Shake the bag lightly, let the air out and seal the bag.
- Put the bag in the fridge and leave for 12 hours. Flip the bag and leave for another 12 hours.
- Remove the salmon from the bag and scrape off any excess salt/sugar. Slice thinly across the fibers.
- For the cucumber, add all the ingredients except for the cucumber to a saucepan with 150ml/5fl oz water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and cool for two minutes. Pour into a sealable glass jar.
- Slice the cucumber lengthwise into quarters. Remove the seeds and cut into 10cm/4in pieces. Put the cucumber pieces in the brine in the jar, the liquid should cover the cucumber. Store in the fridge for at least 12 hours before serving.
- For the scallops, open the scallops using a thin sharp knife. Clean them and reserve the white meat, shell and the roe (for the dressing).
- Heat a small cast iron skillet or a heavy-based frying pan until hot. Melt the butter and sear the scallops on both sides until golden-brown. Remove from the pan and season with salt. Reserve the butter in the pan for the roe dressing.
- Put the scallops back in their shells and place in the drum of a barbecue. Cover the scallops with the hay. Set fire to the hay and let it burn until the scallops are covered in ashes. Scrape off the excess ashes.
- For the roe dressing, heat two teaspoons of the butter reserved from the scallops in a small cast iron or heavy based saucepan and gently fry the shallot for one minute. Add the cream. Roughly chop the roes and add to the cream. Using a handheld blender mix until smooth. Season with salt, a pinch of leek ash and some lemon juice.
- To serve, put two slices of salmon irregularly on each plate. Slice each scallop in half so that you get two round pieces and place them next to the salmon. Drizzle a few drops of the roe dressing over the salmon.
- Cut very thin slices of the sour cucumber lengthwise using a mandolin. Do the same with the apple. Place a few of these cucumber and apple slices around each plate and finish with a few mustard leaves.