“If you can, use wild salmon, which is at its best at this time of year. It has a deeper, slightly sweeter flavour than the farmed variety and is lovely and pink. ”
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 x 1 kg side of salmon or 2 x 500g wild salmon fillets, scaled and pin-boned, from sustainable sources
- 1 lemon
- 6 tablespoons crème fraîche
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish (or use from a jar if you can’t find fresh)
- extra virgin olive oil
- 16 free-range quail eggs or 8 free-range hen eggs
- 2 good handfuls of watercress
- ½ a bunch of fresh dill
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4.
- In a pestle and mortar, bash the fennel seeds with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
- Place the salmon, skin-side down, in a roasting tray and sprinkle the fennel salt over the top. Finely grate over the lemon zest.
- Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just cooked, but still a little translucent in the centre (if you’re using wild salmon, reduce the cooking time to 10 to 12 minutes).
- Mix the crème fraîche with half the lemon juice, the horseradish, a good lug of oil and a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.
- Once the salmon is done, leave to cool a little before removing skin and breaking flesh into chunks.
- Boil the quail eggs for 2 minutes, or hen eggs for 5½ minutes. Cool in a bowl of cold water then peel carefully.
- Spoon a dollop of horseradish crème fraîche onto your plates, top with a few pieces of salmon and some watercress. Allocating 2 quail eggs or 1 hen egg per person, cut into halves or quarters and place around the salmon. Finish by picking over the dill and drizzling with extra virgin olive oil.
Source: Jamie Oliver
