Eschalot's lightly-cured Salmon with Dashi Smoked Trout Roe, Jamon Dressing and Beach Greens

Ingredients

4 x 60 g salmon fillets, skin removed and pin-boned
200 g fresh trout roe
500 g jamon Iberico, thinly sliced
2 sheets kombu seaweed
200 g dried bonito flakes
200 g dried apple wood, for smoking
200 ml extra virgin olive oil
500 g foraged beach plants, washed
40 g sea salt
30 g white sugar

Note: If you live on the coast, foraging for beach plants – like beach bananas, rock samphire, sea parsley, native beach spinach, wild beach mustard leaves and flowers – is a great way to gather food. If you cannot do this, buy fresh or preserved beach plants online. Alternatively, you can substitute them for aniseed or tart herbs like sorrel, nasturtium, dill or fennel fronds. Also, the salmon in this recipe needs to cure overnight, so prepare a day in advance.

Method

Cure the Salmon:

Combine the sugar and sea salt in a bowl. Rub the curing mixture over the salmon, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. Unwrap and rinse with cold tap water, then pat dry with paper towel.

Make Dashi Stock:

Bring two litres of water to the boil. Place the kombu and bonito flakes into the water, submerge well and simmer until reduced by half. Strain through filter paper, then chill in the fridge.

Smoke the Trout Roe:

Have a deep roasting tray, a cake rack and some foil ready. Combine 200 ml of cold dashi stock and the fresh trout roe in a small bowl. Place the apple wood into the deep roasting tray and burn with a blow torch until well ignited. Once the flames have died out and the wood is smoking heavily, place the cake rack on the wood chips and put the bowl of dashi stock and trout roe on top. Seal the entire tray tightly with foil and smoke for 20 minutes, then remove the roe and set aside in the fridge.

Jamon Dressing:

Combine 800 ml of dashi stock and the jamon in a pot and bring to the boil. Turn down to a low simmer and reduce to 150 ml. Strain, then chill in the fridge. Once cold, slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking quickly. Season with sea salt and set aside.

To Serve:

Place a salmon fillet onto each plate. Season lightly with sea salt and spoon over the smoked roe. Arrange the beach plants over the top, and drizzle with the jamon dressing.

Credits: Eschalot Restaurant as published in The Southern Highlands Cookbook.

Photo Credits: Eschalot Restaurant.