Smoked Wild Irish Salmon Millefeuille Food

WILD SALMON CEASAR

Steps:

• Preheat grill over medium-high heat.
• Lightly season pink side of the salmon portions with lemon pepper. Grill (or pan-fry), pink side down, for 2 minutes. Flip over, and cook for another 4 minutes.
• In the meantime, in a large bowl or platter toss chopped romaine, sliced tomato, red onion and blue cheese crumbles with enough Caesar dressing to coat the salad. Top the salad with remaining tomato and red onion. Place salmon over the salad, garnish with lemon slices and crispy fried onion strips.

WILD IRISH SALMON MAYONNAISE WITH HOMEMADE MAYONNAISE AND SEASONAL SALAD

Steps:

• Poach the salmon; leave to cool. Meanwhile make the Tomato and Mint Salad. Remove the cores from six tomatoes and quarter. Sprinkle with a little salt, sugar and black pepper. Toss immediately in a little French dressing; sprinkle with 1 to 2 teaspoons of chopped mint and basil.
• Slice a medium cucumber, sprinkle with salt, 1 to 2 dessertspoons of wine vinegar and plenty of sugar. Stir in 2 teaspoons of finely chopped fennel.
• To assemble the Salmon Mayonnaise, put a portion of salmon on each plate when it is just cold. Garnish with a little lettuce, pipe some Potato Salad onto the lettuce and put a little Tomato and Cucumber Salad on the plate as well as one spoonful of egg mayonnaise. Garnish with tiny spring onions and watercress and a segment of lemon. Additional mayonnaise can be served separately or put into a bowl on each plate.
• Piped Potato Salad: Add French dressing, finely chopped parsley, chives and mayonnaise to 1 litre (1 3/4 pints) stiff, freshly mashed potato to taste. Pipe onto individual leaves of lettuce.
• Mayonnaise: Most people don't seem to be aware that mayonnaise can be made, even with a hand whisk, in under five minutes. The great secret is to have all your ingredients at room temperature and to drip the oil very slowly into the egg yolks at the beginning. Good quality ingredients are essential to a successful mayonnaise.
• Put the egg yolks into a bowl with mustard, salt and the white wine vinegar. Put the oil into a measuring jug. Take a whisk in one hand and the oil in the other and drip the oil on to the egg yolks, drop by drop, whisking at the same time. Within a minute you will notice that the mixture is beginning to thicken. When this happens you can add the oil a little faster, but not too quickly or it will suddenly curdle. Taste and add a little more seasoning and vinegar if necessary.
• If the mayonnaise curdles, it will suddenly become quite thin, and if left standing the oil will start to float to the top. You can easily rectify the situation by whisking another egg yolk or 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiling water into the mayonnaise, half a teaspoon at a time, until it emulsifies again.
• Lower the eggs gently into boiling salted water, bring the water back to the boil and hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes in boiling water. Drain and put immediately into a bowl of cold water. (Eggs with a black ring around the yolk have been overcooked.) When cold, shell and slice in half lengthways. Sieve the yolks and mix the sieved egg yolk with mayonnaise. Add chopped chives and salt and pepper to taste. Fill into a piping bag and pipe into the whites. Garnish with a sprig of parsley or chervil and serve on a bed of lettuce.

SMOKED WILD IRISH SALMON WITH CHIVE PANCAKES

Steps:

• THE DRESSING: Place the wholegrain mustard in a bowl, using a whisk, slowly add the olive oil, then add a squeeze of lemon and set aside.
• THE PANCAKE MIXTURE: Mix together the eggs, flour, milk and chopped chives until smooth and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Heat a medium-sized non-stick pan over a high heat and using a piece of kitchen paper wipe the pan with some vegetable oil. Pour a ladleful of the pancake batter into the pan and swirl to cover the base. Cook for about 1 minute, then flip, cook for 30 seconds more, remove and place on greaseproof paper. Repeat until you've made all six pancakes, then set aside.
• TO SERVE: Arrange handfuls of salad leaves in piles on the side of each of six plates. Fold the pancakes into four and sit next to the leaves. Loosely drape two slices of smoked salmon over the leaves and pancakes. Tuck two slices of lemon and a few chives under the salmon, then drizzle the mustard dressing over everything and serve.
• Kevin Dundon's Notes for preparing this dish in advance: Make the pancakes the day before, stack them with a layer of greaseproof paper between each one and refrigerate.
• My Notes: When I make this dish, I am not going to try to track down smoked wild Irish salmon, delicious though it may be. I shall be making it with the best local smoked salmon available.

SMOKED WILD IRISH SALMON WITH CHIVE PANCAKES

Steps:

• To make the dressing, place the wholegrain mustard in a bowl, then using a whisk, add the olive oil slowly. Add a squeeze of lemon, season to taste, then set aside.
• To make the pancake mixture, mix together the eggs, flour, milk and chopped chives until smooth. Season with pepper and salt, if you want
• Heat a medium non-stick frying pan over a highish heat. Using a piece of kitchen paper wipe the pan with some vegetable oil. Pour a ladleful of the pancake batter into the pan and swirl to cover the base. Cook for about 1 min, then flip, cook for 30 secs more, remove and place on greaseproof paper. Repeat until you've made all six pancakes, then set aside.
• To serve, arrange handfuls of salad leaves in piles on the side of each of six plates. Fold pancakes into four and sit next to the leaves. Loosely drape two slices of smoked salmon over the leaves and pancakes. Tuck two slices of lemon and a few chives under the salmon, then drizzle the mustard dressing over everything and serve.

SMOKED SALMON MILLE-FEUILLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400ºF.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Thaw puff pastry according to pkg directions.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 pastry sheet from the center until it's 1/2" wider on all sides.
• Whisk together egg, water, and the 1 T dill; brush onto rolled pastry sheet.
• Using 1 1/2 inch round cutter, cut pastry into rounds - transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet. (Puff pastry shrinks as it bakes, so use a cutter one size larger than you want for the finished mille-feuille.).
• Bake until pastry is golden, 15 minutes, remove from oven and cool on baking sheet on a rack.
• Repeat rolling, brushing, cutting and baking with second sheet of puff pastry.
• BEFORE they cool completely, split each one into a top and a bottom.
• Combine cream cheese, capers (if using), the 2 T dill, crushed red pepper flakes (if using) or white pepper (if using) & zest for filling in a bowl until well blended.
• Mince (smoked salmon) or flake (hot-smoked salmon) salmon, gently stir into the cream cheese mixture.
• Transfer filling to a resealable plastic bag; snip of a corner of the bag to form a 1/2-inch opening.
• *For efficient fillling, line the puffs in rows with their "lids" next to them, then pipe them assembly-line style.
• Squeeze a mound about (1 teaspoon) of filling onto the "bottoms" of the baked pastry halves; top with remaining pastry halves.
• MAKE AHEAD:
• **Make filling up to 2 days ahead and store it in the bag you'll use for piping; bring to room temp before using.
• ***Wait until a few hours before serving to bake the puffs. so they stay crisp.
• ****Fill the puffs just before guests arrive.

HOME-SMOKED SALMON FILLETS

Steps:

• Stir first 4 ingredients in large bowl until both sugars dissolve. Add salmon, skin side up, to brine, pressing to submerge. Cover and refrigerate overnight.Remove salmon from brine; discard brine. Rinse salmon under cold water. Place salmon, skin side down, on rack. Let stand until top is dry to touch (do not pat dry), about 1 hour.
• Prepare barbecue (medium-low heat). Using 2 layers of foil, make 12 x 10-inch foil rectangle with 1-inch-high sides. Place 3 cups smoke chips on foil rectangle. Set atop coals 5 minutes before grilling salmon. Position barbecue rack at least 6 inches above briquettes. Position vents on barbecue so that chips smoke and briquettes burn but do not flame.
• Using 3 layers of foil, make another 12 x 10-inch foil rectangle with 1-inch-high sides. Using skewer, pierce 6 holes evenly over bottom of rectangle. Arrange salmon, skin side down, on rectangle. Place salmon on foil on grill. Cover; cook until salmon is firm to touch and glaze forms over salmon, adding more smoke chips to barbecue if necessary, 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on heat of grill.
• Remove salmon from foil, leaving skin on foil. Transfer salmon to platter; serve warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)