This is a dish that is very simple and healthy. It is made form very basic ingredients and flavors. It is basically a normal day meal but made a bit more special by the presentation.
We start with the rice. This is a mix of both wild and normal long grain rice. This can be very easily sourced from your local super market. You need to cook in a lot of boiling salted water for about 25 mins. When cooked, drain well and allow to stand and cool. This of course is going into the salmon. Here we have a six ounce piece of salmon but for many people that can be too much. The piece is cut directly from a side of salmon so is very neat. A slash is cut through the salmon but not to the edges. If the cut is too long then the salmon could fall to pieces when cooked.
When the rice is cool, into it is mixed some salt and pepper, one egg white, come fresh coriander and a little touch of paprika. The mix is then carefully stuffed into the flap in the salmon. The fish should be placed on a piece of grease proof paper and then generously seasoned with sea salt and fresh milled black pepper. I prefer to leave the fish to stand in the fridge for a while before cooking, I am not sure why but it helps the fish to stay in shape when cooked.
The salmon will take between twelve and twenty minutes to cook. While this is cooking you can cook the spinach. This has just been picked, washed and then gently cooked in butter with salt pepper and a little nutmeg. This will only take about one minute but be warned that as it cooks the volume will drastically reduce. You will need a lot more than you think!
That is basically the dish. To make it look a bit more special we have served it with two dressings. One is a fresh herb oil. This is fresh basil and a mix of olive oil and vegetable oil. We just put in a food processor until smooth and seasoned with salt and pepper. You can use only olive oil but I think that the flavor is a little over powering for the basil. The second dressing is a red pepper coulis. I cut up two red peppers, then put them in a pan with a little butter. Once the pepper had gone soft, I added a good slug of white wine and continued cooking until all the wine had evaporated. Then put the pans contents into a food processor and left until very smooth. This does take a little while. When smooth, pass through a sieve and allow to cool a little.
How you put all the ingredients on the plate is of course up to you. We placed the salmon on top of the spinach and dripped the two dressings around the outside. You can leave the dressings off and use a nice fresh hollandaise if you prefer.
I hope you enjoy it.
Paul Vincent, Head Chef.