Saturday, June 17, 2006
Salmon Carpaccio and Cream Cheese & Chives
It was a glorious day again today. The sun was shining brightly and
my friend, Lofty and I went for a long wander around town. Our first stop was a little market/fair of cultures in Temple Bar. It was
really nothing special - a few stalls selling very touristy handicrafts from all over the world, a few food stalls and lots and lots of information and petitions from Dublin cyclists, Amnesty international and several other small lobby groups and NGOs. We signed everything we agreed with (which happened to be everything), sampled some Falafels and stocked up on Fair Trade Chocolate from Amnesty. I even found a stall selling the same Zapatista coffee that I had brought home from Munich before. Organic, shade grown, fair trade and sold to fund schools and hospitals in the Mexican state of Chiapas where the government is doing little to provide the indigenous population with even the most basic services and have even fought an armed war against those who have dared to stand up for their rights. So this is quadruple goodness in every cup.With this warm fuzzy feeling of happiness in my stomach I led the way on to Temple Bar market.
Unfortunately, we were quite late and Jenny was nearly sold out. She told stories of young garden peas and freshly harvested garlic, but we found mainly empty baskets. So we settled for a bag of mixed salad leaves and some spinach and headed on to the fishmonger. And while Jenny's was an easy stall to shop at, here we were spoilt for choice. We bought a large fillet of cod and a slightly smaller piece of salmon along with a few handfuls of salmon off cuts. Then, after a brief stop at Dennis' stall, we made our way to Fallon & Byrne for a few more bits and pieces for tonight's dinner: Carpaccio of salmon with crusty bread and cream cheese and chives.For the cream cheese:... I admit, by the way, that this post used to be quite a bit longer. A little while ago, I made a small mistake on my keyboard and learned the hard way that the undo function on this blog does not work. I was going to re-write it all, but then decided to give in to fate and spare you my thoughts on shopping in Dublin. But before I call it a day, let me just quickly mention that, from a food point of view, I could not be happier here. Irish produce is great and the Irish often display the kind of pride in their food that I so sorely missed in Germany.
100g plain cream cheese
50g mascarpone cheese
3 tbsp thick cream
3 tbsp chopped chives (more to taste)
fleur de sel to taste (I call for fleur de sel here rather than ordinary table salt not to be poncy, but because I feel that the more subtle flavour is better suited for the dish. Sometimes I use posh salt, like sea salt or even fleur de sel, but, as you may have noticed, most of my recipes simply use iodised table salt. This is done not only for financial, but also for health reasons.)
For the salmon:
400g salmon (Make sure that the fish you buy is suitable for eating raw! It is not enough for it to be fresh, so only buy from a reliable source and specifically ask your fishmonger for sushi quality salmon.)
1 avocado
To serve:
enough salad for 2 people (as you can see, I used a mix of salad greens and plum tomatoes and decorated it with Nasturtium flowers from Jenny's garden, but as per usual anything goes here. Just bear in mind that strong flavours may overpower the salmon.)
mild white wine or white balsamic vinegar or even lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste (alternatively use your favourite salad dressing)
lemon wedges
thick slices of crusty bread
For the cream cheese, whip together the cream cheese, mascarpone and cream until smooth and creamy. Stir in the chives and season to taste with the fleur de sel. Leave to infuse in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the carpaccio. Thinly slice the salmon and arrange it on two plates. If you prefer your fish chunky, feel free to go for thicker slices. We have become so accustomed to eating smoked, cured or raw fish in thin slices that we have come to believe that this is the only possible way. But as the very yummy Japanese dish of Sashimi proves, this is not the case. Raw salmon is actually quite nice in bigger bits. Give it a try sometime!
Remove the pip from the avocado. This is best done by chopping the fruit in half, then ramming the blade of a big knife into the pip. Now all you have to do is give it a quick, sharp twist and you'll be able to pull it out without any problems (although removing it from the blade may be another matter). Peel and slice the avocado. Lay it on top of the salmon.
Assemble the salad beside the fish. And dress with oil, vinegar/lemon juice, salt and pepper (or your choice of salad dressing). Serve with lemon wedges and bread smothered with the cream cheese.
Christine at 10:01 pm
