Rare grilled (or steamed) salmon salad with Jersey Royals, fennel mayonnaise and lemon
This is one of the first things I like to cook as soon as the appearance of Jersey Royals in April heralds the advent of spring. Naturally, the dish is still good cooked at any other time of the year if Jerseys are substituted with other little waxy spuds such as Rosevale, Charlotte or Belle Fontenays. Asparagus spears are also a cracking and fitting seasonal addition to this salad, as are peas and broad beans. However, tempting as it is to keep adding tasty and fitting ingredients, it is always a worthwhile attribute in cookery to exercise a certain level of restraint. You can also take the short cut of buying the mayonnaise, but as most commercial brands include the idiotic and unpleasant addition of sugar, I would not recommend it. Besides, making real mayonnaise is just about one of the most satisfying jobs you’ll ever do in the kitchen.
It is also worth pointing out that successfully grilling a large piece of fish (or meat, for that matter) in the domestic setting will prove both messy and problematic. You probably won’t have a grill big enough and it creates huge amounts of smoke with which your possibly inadequate extraction system will struggle. Better to grill on a barbecue (unlikely in April/May), or bake or steam the fish. Whichever cooking method you choose, make sure the fish is not overcooked … a cardinal sin.
Serves 6 as a main course
olive oil
1 whole side of good-quality farmed salmon, skinned (or wild if your summer budget allows)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 lemons
about 18 small Jersey Royals or other new potatoes, cleaned or scrubbed if muddy
1 large head of fennel
2 medium egg yolks
1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp white wine vinegar
300ml vegetable or grapeseed oil
2 romaine or cos lettuces, leaves separated, washed and dried – inner leaves are best
1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
1 heaped tbsp capers
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
Cook the salmon by your preferred method. For a big piece such as this, it is probably easiest baked in foil. Set the oven to 175°C. Brush a big sheet of foil with olive oil, season the fish really well on both sides and generously squeeze plenty of lemon juice over it. (If you want to look like the bloke off the telly, artfully lay some herbs over – if not, don’t bother.) Gather up the foil to make a loose-fitting parcel and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes. Leave the fish in the foil to come back down to room temperature. If your salmon is fridge-cold to begin with, it might be a good idea to give it a further 5–10 minutes in the oven.
Cook the potatoes in well-salted simmering water until just cooked. Keep in the water, as these will be nice in the salad if still warm.
Make the fennel mayonnaise. Remove the core of the fennel and the tough outer layer, which can be discarded. Slice the fennel very thinly (a mandolin is good but not essential for this) and chop very finely. It should resemble finely chopped onion. Place the chopped fennel in a voluminous glass or china bowl (making mayonnaise in a steel or plastic bowl just feels all wrong to me) and add the egg yolks, mustard, vinegar and the zest of one of the lemons. Proceed in the usual way by adding the vegetable oil gradually at first and then a little faster as you whisk away as madly as a dervish. If the mayonnaise thickens too much, dribble in a few drops of lemon juice as you go. When all the oil has been incorporated, adjust the seasoning.
To assemble the salad, arrange the lettuce leaves on a large serving dish. Season them and dress with a little olive oil, some freshly squeezed lemon juice and the chopped shallot. Drain the warm potatoes, slice them in half, season and scatter over the lettuce. Pull the salmon apart with your fingers and add big chunks to the dish. Make sure you add all the fishy juices from the foil pouch and scatter the whole salad generously with the capers and chopped dill. This is an excellent communal dish so encourage folk to help themselves, handing the fennel mayonnaise around separately.
Salade Paysanne
In classic cookery terminology, the term ‘paysanne’ doesn’t really denote any one thing in particular, or more accurately, it can mean any number of things. It usually refers to there being some form of bacon or ham included and often, but not always, potatoes. If something is described as ‘paysanne’ it also, for obvious reasons of translation, gives the impression of being relatively modest to produce in terms of cost. It might, therefore, include cheap cuts of meat such as offal, along with the obligatory bacon or ham, or even leftovers.
At Chez Bruce we have for many years served this rather spectacular (although I say so myself) warm salad as a kind of porky, offaly, fowly extravaganza of a starter. Yes, that’s right – a starter! The following inventory is rather lengthy, so please feel free to leave things out as you wish, but for the full monty, this is the way to go. In addition, we occasionally add deep-fried calf’s brains or sautéed foie gras. It is also only fair to point out that this is quite an involved and ‘restauranty’ dish. The various steps are by no means difficult, but there are quite a few of them. Perhaps this is best attempted when you have plenty of time on your hands and you feel like testing your culinary timing skills. A helper at plating time would also be welcome.
Serves 8 as a starter
4 lambs’ tongues (optional)
8 thin slices of prosciutto or pancetta
8 Rosevale potatoes or other waxy varieties, such as Ratte or Charlotte, washed but not peeled
50g unsalted butter, plus a litle extra to cook the quail eggs
1 leg of duck confit and a little duck fat
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 duck breasts, fat scored neatly
50g pancetta lardons
8 quail eggs (optional)
150g fine French beans, cooked and refreshed in iced water
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
about 24 freshly cooked croûtons
2 large heads of frisée lettuce, yellow leaves picked and washed
1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
½ bunch of fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped
Rinse the lambs’ tongues, if using, and cover in cold water. Bring to a trembling simmer and poach until cooked – for about 2 hours. A skewer or small, sharp knife will slide in and out easily when the tongues are ready. Cool a little and, as soon as you are able to handle the hot tongues, skin them and reserve in some of the poaching liquor, discarding the skins. As with the cooking of the duck leg, this can be done the day before.
Set the oven to 150°C. Place the prosciutto or pancetta slices on a wire rack – a wire mesh for cooling cakes is ideal for this – and cook in the oven until crisp. This should take about 20 minutes. Allow to cool. Slice each potato lengthways into three or four 5mm slices – no thicker. Melt the butter and duck fat together gently in a large non-stick pan that will accommodate all the potato slices in one neat layer – add them flat (cut) side down. Bring the pan up to a medium heat so that the butter begins to foam, then season the whole pan well with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to its lowest setting and continue to cook the