Smoked Trout and Pickled Cucumber Salad
Max served a trout confit, but we love it with warm smoked trout too. Inspired by Max Rocha of Café Cecilia.
SERVES
2
PEOPLE
Ingredients
For the pickles
1 tbsp sugar
100ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
½ cucumber, finely sliced (on a mandoline, ideally)
5 breakfast radishes, finely sliced (on a mandoline, ideally)
hot smoked trout (see recipe)
200ml olive oil
3 sprigs thyme
2 garlic cloves, peeled
For the salad
6 tbsp good-quality olive oil
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 bunch watercress (about 80g)
juice of ½ lemon
extra virgin olive oil, to finish
4 sprigs chervil, leaves picked
4 sprigs dill, leaves picked
Method
First, make the pickle by combining 100ml water with the sugar, vinegar and salt in a saucepan, then gradually increase the heat until the sugar dissolves. Pour this over the cucumber and radishes in a bowl and set aside.
For the salad, combine the olive oil, mustard and white wine vinegar. Drain the pickles and put them in a bowl with the watercress and 1 ½ tablespoons of the vinaigrette (save the rest for other salads in the week). Mix and taste for seasoning, adding a squeeze of lemon juice, a few extra drops of olive oil and a pinch each of sea salt and black pepper as required.
Flake each trout fillet into 4-5 pieces, then divide half of the fish between 2 plates. Arrange half of the pickles and watercress mix on top, lay on the rest of the smoked fish, then top with the remaining pickle mix.
Garnish with the fresh herb sprigs and a pinch of flaky sea salt.
