Kiel week (end Sunday)

We  hadn't planned to do a lot on Sunday as I was heading off home earlier than normal as I wanted to hear the T20 on Radio 4 on the way home and be home in time to watch the England/Italy game (that was a waste of time).

So it was a light breakfast (I am now on a bit of a health trip and Linda has been ever since her Kur) poached eggs on toast.

I had suggested that we had risotto for lunch with some lightly fried salmon.

Linda had a packet of already mixed truffel risotto so that is what we used:

Ingredients:

Tail piece of salmon, skin removed, cut into tranchés

1/2 lemon

1 handful of baby calamaries

1 pkt truffel risotto mix

1 glass of dry white wine

8 stalks of green asparagus (chop the heads off)

4-5 spring onions

1 ltr vegetable stock

1 tbl spoon of olive oil

Pepper

1 small handful of fresh grated Parmasan cheese

Method:

Cut the bottoms off the asparagus and peal the bottom  4 cm add these along with some of the greens from the spring onions to the stock and simmer for a while.

Heat the oil along with some of the diced spring onions in a deep pan, add the rice and when it turns translucent (I like it just as it is starting to take on a bit of colour as this gives it a nutty flavour)

 add the wine, allow it to reduce and then pour some stock in so that it covers the rice.

Reduce the heat and give it a stir.
Oil your salmon, rub it with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper, heat a heavy bottomed pan and sear the salmon, turning once, squeeze 1/2 lemon over it, turn off the heat and allow to finish in the pan.
In another pan heat some more olive oil, sauté the sliced spring onions then add the asparagus stems.

Keep adding stock and stiring as it reduces, the rice will start to soften and the sauce start to thicken, keep on adding until all the stock is absorbed and the sauce is creamy,

now add the asparagus tips and calamaries and any juices from the salmon pan, along with the spring onions, heat through, add the Parmasan cheese and stir in, taste, adjust the pepper (you should not need any salt).

ladle onto a plate, place the salmon on top and decorate with the asparagus stems.

Now how easy was that?

It did taste rather nice, we had a nice warm roast tomato and black olive salad, drizzled with EVOO, torn up basil leaves and sprinkled with Parmasan cheese.

Truffle risotto, steamed salmon and egg frit

We had been having a discussion on the Wildfood food board about a poached egg frit, this was a poached egg and then deep fried. Some of us decided to try and replicate it (well the culprit was our dear Brussels pâté, Belgium Endive (Elisa). She had done a one on Friday or was it Thursday; in any case it had turned out very well.


It had set my old grey cells in motion to see what place it could have in a meal, I had received a real authentic packet of Truffle Risotto as part of my cookery club Christmas present from Linda (max €10,-), I had been into the market earlyish (after a pigeon shoot, but that is the next blog)and got a piece of Pacific fresh salmon, the fish monger didn’t find it funny when I pointed out that we didn’t have a sea board with the Pacific here in Europe, so it had, had a might long swim! (German lack of humour here).

So it was to be :

Truffle Risotto with steamed lemon salmon (Fresh Pacific LoL) topped with a deep fried poached egg.

So first off poach your self an egg, make sure that it is fresh, that way the albumen holds together in a mound around the yolk.

Poach until the white is just set and immediately transfer to ice cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside until required.

an egg in the mist

Marinated salmon

Place the salmon on a plate and grate a little lemon zest over the salmon, grate a couple of turns of pepper and drizzle some lemon olive oil and a few drops of Pumpkin seed oil on top and add some herbal sea salt. Cover and allow to marinate)

I had the day before made a few liters of chicken stock, this went onto boil, I diced a shallot and sautéed this in olive oil, I then added the packet of truffle risotto, it also contained cêpes. Coating the grains in oil and cooking until they started to turn translucent. Now added a wine glass? of white wine (an Italian of course Pinot Grigio), let the alcohol boil off and started to add the hot stock, a ladle at a time allowing it to be absorbed before adding more, stirring, stirring all the time (some say you don’t have to, but this is the way I was taught and that is the way I shall continue)

In the mean time I put the salmon on to steam (Chinese bamboo steamer over boiling water)

While the risotto was finishing and the salmon steaming I cut the egg yolk and some of the white out of the poached egg with a cutter,

I next coated it in season flour, then in egg,

then in panko crumbs,

repeating the last 2 stages to get a real thick crust.

I had heated some vegetable oil in a small pan (I could have used the friteuse but what a waste of oil for just one egg), I may have left it in a tick long as the egg yolk was not as runny as I like, though I think it would have been to Linda’s liking

So it was Risotto into a deep plate, steamed salmon on top and the egg on top of that, a few strategically placed marjoram leaves and a few Sel de Fleur flakes on top of the egg.

It was truly fantastic and of course washed down with a glass or two of Pinot Grigio.

I shall be doing it again, thanks, Aero and Belgium Endive for the fantastic idea.