Gin-cured trout
This beautifully delicate starter from The Surprise in London’s Chelsea features soft trout, a tangy yogurt purée and fresh cucumber salsa
- Total:
- Serves: 8 persons
Ingredients
- 1trout fillet (about 700g, we used ChalkStream), skinned
- 200ml gin
- 100g caster sugar
- 100g fine sea salt
- 20g juniper berries
- 4star anise
- 25g whole black peppercorns
- 25g fennel seeds
- 2lemons, zested
- 2limes, zested
- dill, plus extra to serve
- 450ml natural yogurt
- 5g agar agar
- ½lemon, juiced
- 75g caster sugar
- 1tsp sea salt flakes
- 1tsp creamed horseradish
- 1cucumber, finely chopped
- 1long shallot, finely chopped
- 1lime, zested
- 10g icing sugar
- chive oil (see cook's tips below)
- grapes, sliced
- 2-3 tsp keta caviar (optional)
Instructions
Step 1
Blitz all the cure ingredients in a food processor to a paste. Cover the trout with the cure and chill for 6 hours. Turn over the fillet and chill for 6 hours more or overnight. Once cured, rinse off the excess cure and thinly slice the fish. Arrange over six or eight plates.Step 2
Mix together all the ingredients for the yogurt purée and spoon into a piping bag. Pipe dots of the purée over the trout slices. Combine all the ingredients for the cucumber salsa and spoon small mounds over the fish. Garnish with grapes, dill and caviar, if you like.