Saturday 13 December 2008

Salmon "mi cuit", vegetable spaghetti, langoustine consomme

Here is a dish from my weekend du jour menu. "Mi cuit" means half cooked so the salmon is lightly cured in salt and sugar and then vacuum packed with thyme and olive oil and cooked in a water bath for approximately 6-8 mins, depending on the thickness of the fish. At this temperature the fish changes texture and flavor but doesn't look cooked all the way through. It has an opaque look but melts in the mouth and has subtle and pleasing flavor. the vegetables are cut into long jullienne and blanched briefly in salted boiling water and reheated in olive oil.

The langoustine consomme is made by an ice filtration technique. I made a langoustine stock and reduced it down by half to concentrate the flavours. Take 1000ml of the stock and 5gram gelatin leaf and bloom the gelatin in cold water. Take a third of the stock and dissolve the gelatin sheets. Put the stock into the freezer and froze solid. With a steamer tray (lined with a double muslin) on top of a hotel pan the frozen stock is put into the tray and left in the fridge for 24 hours. The resulting liquid left in the tray should be a perfectly clear and clean tasting consomme ready for action. The lists of what you can do is endless....smoked salmon, smoked bacon, brown butter, wild mushroom, that left over braising jus that you want to use for the fine dining restaurant, all the flavours are there, just need to be released!!

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