Eric Chavot’s home-cured salmon with pickled ginger and wasabi dressing

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

To serve
40g pickled ginger
40g fennel, very finely sliced, set aside in a bowl of iced water
10g wasabi-flavoured fish roe
small bunch dill, chopped
1 x 20g punnet shiso cress
1 x 20g punnet tahoon cress

For the cured salmon, place the salmon fillets into a large, deep dish. In a bowl, mix together all of the remaining cured salmon ingredients until well combined.
Pour over the curing mixture, place a second, slightly smaller dish on top of the salmon fillets and place a heavy object onto the second dish to flatten the salmon fillets. Cover the dish with cling film, transfer to the fridge and leave to cure for 1-2 days, turning the salmon fillets twice a day (at about 8 hours apart).

When the salmon fillets have cured, rinse away the liquid and pat the salmon fillets dry using kitchen paper. Carve into thin slices, then chill in the fridge, covered, until needed.

For the wasabi dressing, blend the egg yolks, egg whites, English mustard, wasabi paste, white balsamic vinegar, rice wine vinegar and caster sugar to a purée in a food processor. With the motor still running, gradually add the olive oil and grapeseed oil to the purée, one after the other, in a thin stream, until the dressing mixture thickens. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then set aside.

For the dill oil, blend the dill oil ingredients in a food processor to a very fine purée. Set aside. For the salad, using a melon baller, carve 20 balls from the peeled cucumbers. Place the cucumber balls into a bowl and drizzle over 2tbsp of the olive oil and all of the sparkling water. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover the bowl and microwave on full power for 1 minute. Drain the liquid from the bowl. Add the cooked potato cubes to the drained cucumber balls, pour over a little of the lemon vinaigrette and mix well to coat the vegetables.

Heat 1tbsp of the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the focaccia cubes and fry or 1-2 minutes on all sides, or until they become crisp and golden-brown croutons.

Heat the caster sugar in a separate, non-reactive pan over a low to medium heat. When the sugar has melted and caramelised, add the focaccia croutons and stir well to coat in the melted sugar. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and the remaining 1tbsp olive oil and stir to coat the croutons.

To serve, drain the fennel slices and pat dry with kitchen paper. Brush 4 serving plates with the wasabi dressing, then sprinkle over the pickled ginger and drained fennel slices and dot with the wasabi fish foe. Divide the salad equally among the plates and top with a serving of cured salmon slices. Sprinkle over the croutons, chopped dill, shiso cress and tahoon cress. Drizzle the dill oil around the plate.