Festive food and drink should be as easy as tossing a salad and opening a bottle. Really. Why slog in a hot, hot kitchen when you could be sippin’ on some cool, cool wine with a nice leafy salad on the side?
Add ribbons of smoked or cured trout, berries and cherries and perhaps a handful of toasted almonds, and you’ve got the perfect summer feast. This recipe for home-cured trout couldn’t be easier.
Chef Mynhardt Joubert’s Home-cured Salmon Trout
“I love curing trout as it is such an interesting process and you get to develop your own signature depending on your preferred spices and mixes. This is my ideal blend. You can prepare this as a side dish or even serve it as a main course with some crusty baguette. The trout needs to be cured for at least a day in advance and improves with standing. It is utterly delicious and perfect for sharing with friends and a glass or two of Roodeberg Rosé.”
Serves 6 to 8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Rest: 24 hours
Ingredients
- 600 to 800 g of filleted fresh salmon trout (3 to 4 fillets)
- 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon of dill seeds
- 1 teaspoon of aniseed
- 1 teaspoon of dried coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon of yellow mustard seeds
- 1 small chilli deseeded and chopped
- 100 g of sugar
- 100 g of coarse salt
- 200 ml of KWV Cruxland Gin
- 1 cup of chopped fresh fennel bulb and leaves
- 1 cup of chopped red onion
Method
- Wipe the filleted salmon trout with a wet clean kitchen towel dipped in lemon juice and place in a flat oven tray that is big enough to fit the entire fish.
- Mix together all the dry spice ingredients and roast in a pan for about 3 to 4 minutes, until the first popping sounds and hints of smoke occur. Be careful not to scorch the spices. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Mix the roast spices with the salt and sugar, and rub this mixture into all of the fish fillets. Work lightly, to avoid bruising the fish.
- Put the first fillet of fish on a large rectangle of clingfilm. Scatter over some chopped fennel and onion and more of the dry spice mix. Continue by stacking and spicing the fillets on top of each other. Drizzle each layer with a little of the gin.
- Pour over the remaining gin and wrap the fish tightly in the clingfilm. Place a clean baking tray on top of the wrapped spiced fish, and weight it down with 4-6 cans of beans or whatever cans you have. The heavier, the better. Place in the fridge and leave to cure for at least 24 hours.
- Remove and wipe off all the excess spices. Slice the fish very thinly on the diagonal, and set aside somewhere cool while you prepare the salad.
Ingredients for the salad
- Fresh strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and cherries as in season.
- Cucumber peeled into thin strips with a spaghetti peeler, sliced candied beetroot, cooked baby beetroot, mayonnaise, baby lettuce leaves and edible flowers.
Arrange all the ingredients on individual plates or on one large platter, scatter over ribbons of the cured trout, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately. This goes really well with a robust rosé, such as the newly launched Roodeberg Rosé.
A blend of classic red wine varieties, Roodeberg Rosé is a salmon-pink easy-drinking wine, ideal for relaxed get-togethers. Subtle aromas of watermelon, litchi and raspberry with hints of rose petal and Turkish delight, good acidity and a long, fruity finish, make this a good food wine on hot, balmy days. Try it with paella, garlicky prawns, chicken kebabs, crayfish and sushi!
Roodeberg Rosé is available at Pick n Pay stores countrywide or online at https://www.shopsawine.co.za/kwv/24-shop-for-wine at a cellar door price of R85 per bottle. Catch all the action by joining the Roodeberg community on Facebook or follow @Roodeberg_Wine on Instagram and Twitter.
