Smoked trout with pickled cucumber and beurre blanc
- Prepare
- overnight
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
- Dietary
- Egg-freeGluten-freeNut-free
Gently poached trout is served in with pickled cucumber and a rich beurre blanc for a dinner party-worthy dish.
For this recipe you will need a blender, muslin cloth, fine sieve or chinois and a thermometer.
Ingredients
For the dill oil
- 2 bunches dill, leaves picked and thick stems removed
- 40–60g/1½oz–2¼oz baby spinach
- 300ml/10fl oz (approx) vegetable oil
For the pickles
- 100ml/3½fl oz champagne vinegar
- 100g/3½fl oz caster sugar
- 1 small cucumber, sliced 3mm/⅛in thick
- 50g/1¾oz fresh dulse seaweed
For the beurre blanc
- 250ml/9fl oz chardonnay vinegar
- 350ml/12fl oz dry white wine
- 1 white onion
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 peppercorns
- 100ml/3½fl oz double cream
- 250g/9oz cold unsalted butter, diced
- 1 tbsp finely chopped dill
- 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
- 1 tbsp finely diced shallot
- 1 tbsp trout roe
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the trout
- 100g/3½oz cold unsalted butter, diced
- 5g sea salt flakes
- 4 x 100g/3½oz semi-smoked trout portions, from the middle fillet
- sea purslane, to serve
Method
To make the dill oil, weigh the dill and spinach, then add to a blender. Add twice the weight of the greens in vegetable oil, then blend until completely smooth.
Gently heat the blended oil in a pan, using a thermometer to check its temperature. When it gets to 80C, hold for 2 minutes, then pour into a bowl set over ice and cool quickly. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, strain through a muslin cloth without pressing. Leave to settle, then carefully pour off the clear green oil from any water at the bottom.
Meanwhile, to make the pickled cucumber, pour 100ml/3½fl oz water into a small pan and add the vinegar and sugar. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Put the cucumber into a bowl and pour over half the pickling liquor and 50ml/2fl oz of the dill oil (save the rest for another time). Cover and refrigerate overnight.
To make the pickled dulse, put the dulse in a heatproof bowl and heat the remaining pickling liquor. Pour it over the dulse then leave to cool completely. Drain and finely chop. Set aside.
To make the beurre blanc, combine the vinegar, wine, onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt in a large saucepan. Simmer over a medium heat, stirring so the reduction does not catch, until reduced by 90 per cent.
Add the cream and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, a piece at a time, until thickened and emulsified. Pass through a fine sieve or chinois and season as needed. Set aside.
To poach the trout, heat 500ml/18fl oz water in a wide saucepan to 55C. Add the butter and whisk to melt and emulsify, then add the salt. Hold the temperature at 55C.
Lay the trout in the pan and gently poach for 8–10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 38C.
Carefully remove the trout and place on a tray, skin-side up. Gently peel away the skin.
Drain the pickled cucumber on kitchen paper and arrange the slices over the trout so they overlap. Transfer the trout to serving plates.
Gently reheat the sauce without boiling. Add the dill, chives, shallot, trout roe and pickled dulse. Stir so the ingredients are just bound by the sauce. Pour alongside the trout and garnish with sea purslane.
