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Grilled fillet of salmon with crushed peas and tarragon
Serves 4
A good piece of fish needs very little doing to it, and should be served in a way that reflects the season you’re in.
Ingredients
4 portions of salmon, weighing about 160g–180g each
Vegetable or corn oil for brushing
150g shelled weight of fresh peas
2tsp caster sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A couple good knobs of butter
2 shallots, peeled, halved and finely chopped
120ml double cream
½tbsp chopped tarragon leaves
Method
Cook the peas in boiling salted water with the sugar for about 10 minutes or until tender, then drain. Melt the butter in a pan, and gently cook the shallots on a low heat for a couple of minutes.
Meanwhile, roughly chop the peas, either by hand or briefly in a food processor, then add them to the shallots with the cream and tarragon. Season and simmer to a thick, sauce-like consistency.
Heat a ribbed griddle pan and lightly oil it. Season the salmon and cook them for about 2–3 minutes on each side, keeping them nice and pink. Spoon the peas onto warmed serving plates and lay the salmon on top.
And to drink…
Grilled fillet of salmon with crushed peas and tarragon
Try the youthful Alsatian 2007 Hugel Gentil (£9.50, Cambridge Wine Merchants, 01223 568993, www.cambridgewines.com), an uplifting blend.
Honey-roast salmon salad with samphire
The 2007 Domaine des Granges de Mirabel, Vin de Pays de L’Ardeche (£10.95, Vintage Roots, 0800 980 4992, www.vintageroots.co.uk) has enough minerality, acidity and texture to balance out all the flavours.
Chosen by Amelia Pinsent
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Honey-roast salmon salad with samphire
Serves 4 as a starter
country you live in, samphire is just starting to show. It’s great in a salad, briefly blanched. Salmon skin often gets thrown in the bin or pushed to the side of the plate, but, deep-fried, it makes a delicious snack or addition to a salad. Smoked salmon or gravadlax skin tastes even better, so save your skins in the freezer.
Ingredients
300g–350g salmon fillet, boned, scaled and skinned (reserve skins)
2–3tbsp clear honey
2tbsp chopped fennel or dill
Vegetable or corn oil for frying
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
80g samphire, trimmed of any woody stalks
A couple of handfuls of small salad leaves, such as nasturtium, chickweed, silver sorrel or rocket
For the dressing
1tbsp cider vinegar
1tsp Tewksbury or Dijon mustard
3tbsp rapeseed oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 240˚C/gas mark 8. Scatter salt on the salmon skin and leave for an hour. Wash the salt off, then dry on some kitchen paper. Cut into rough 2cm squares or strips. Heat about 1cm of oil in a deep-sided frying pan and fry the skins on a fairly high heat until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon onto some kitchen paper and lightly season while they’re still hot.
Meanwhile, season the salmon fillet and place it on a baking tray. Spoon the honey on top of it and scatter the dill over it. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, basting every so often with the honey and keeping the salmon nice and pink.
Blanche the samphire in boiling water for 20 seconds, then drain and refresh under the cold tap. Whisk all of the ingredients for the dressing together with any juices from the salmon and season to taste. Arrange the salad leaves on serving plates with the samphire, break the salmon into pieces and arrange on the salad, spoon over the dressing and scatter over the crispy skins.
Mark Hix’s ‘Seasonal Food’ is available from Quadrille at £25 (www.restaurantsetcltd.co.uk)
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