Once considered the epitome of dinner party sophistication, here we add a Japanese twist to poached salmon.
Ingredients
Jelly
Poaching liquid
Method
1.For jelly, combine cucumber, spring onion, yuzu juice, mirin, sake, wasabi and 60ml water in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve. Season with salt. Place 60ml cucumber liquid in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer (1 minute). Remove from heat, squeeze liquid from gelatine and add to pan; stir to combine, add remaining cucumber liquid and mix. Pour into a 10cm-square plastic container, cover, and refrigerate until set (3-4 hours) or overnight. When ready to serve, cut into 1cm pieces.
2.Combine lime rind, wasabi and sugar in a small bowl. Season with pepper and 1 tbsp flaked salt. Rub over salmon and refrigerate for 2 hours to lightly cure.
3.Meanwhile for poaching liquid, combine ingredients in a large wide, deep saucepan big enough to fit salmon. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook until poaching liquid has infused with flavour (10 minutes).
4.Lightly rinse cure off salmon. Return poaching liquid to a rapid boil, then carefully lower fish into liquid. Turn off heat, cover with a lid or foil and leave for 40 minutes (residual heat will continue to cook salmon).
5.For pickled cucumber, combine rice wine vinegar, dashi powder, 1 tbsp extra sugar, 1 tbsp sea salt and lime juice in a bowl and whisk to dissolve the sugar. Peel cucumber and daikon into thin ribbons, add to pickling liquid then gently toss to combine. Set aside, refrigerated, to pickle (10 minutes).
6.To serve, carefully remove salmon from poaching liquid and place on a platter. Brush with a little sesame oil. Remove cucumber and daikon from pickling liquid and arrange on top of salmon. Scatter with jelly, dill and salmon roe. Serve drizzled with pickling liquid, sesame oil and soy sauce.
Use a fish kettle to poach the fish or a large flame-proof roasting dish. To help lift salmon up after poaching, place it on a small wire rack before lowering into poaching liquid.
Notes