Organic Salmon ‘mi-cuit’, Spiced Lentils, Foie Gras
One Friday morning in March I went to the Vineyard at Stockcross where chef John Campbell(two michelin stars) is at the helm.
Head Chef Peter Eaton cooked this amazing dish of organic salmon ‘mi-cuit’, spiced lentils and foie grass for us. The dish is a master piece in it self, poetry on a plate.
The kitchen at the Vineyard is well equipped and it’s every chefs dream to have so many toys and gadgets. It strikes me that the kitchen is a beehive of activity but all the chefs remained calm and collected.
Johns response, to his success in running such a busy establishment with so much ease, is that he has eliminated the risk from his kitchen by training his team to perfection and by acquiring the right equipment for them to use. I like Johns approach and there is a lesson for all in his theory.
John Campbel is the author of ‘Formulas for Flavour’. This book is one of my favourites as it’s “THE” book I go to when I am looking for inspiration. I 
love the step-by-step illustrations and clear instructions.
John Campbell is well respected in the industry not only for his technical ability but also for his devotion to training and nurturing new talent.
Red cabbage puree
- 1 Red cabbage
- 5g salt
- 150g Water
- Cabernet sauvignon vinegar
Cut the cabbage in ¼'s and remove the root.
Finely shred 380g of the red cabbage.
Place in a pan with the salt and the water and cover tightly with cling film. Place on the stove and allow to steam until the cabbage is tender. (around 45 minutes)
Juice the remaining cabbage and measure 200g, set to one side.
Once the cabbage is cooked ,drain any excess water and place in a liquidiser along with the cabbage juice and turn on full power for 5 minutes.
Place the contents of the liquidiser jug into a large piece of cheese cloth, carefully bring the corners together and tie with string.
Hang the cheese cloth in a fridge over night with a bowl underneath to collect the liquids which will drain from the puree.
Open the cheese cloth and empty the contents into a mixing bowl.
Season with salt and cabernet sauvignon vinegar. Cover.
Smoked raisins
- 200g Molleux raisins
- 200g Wood chippings
Place the raisins into a colander.
Place the wood chippings into a pan or bowl which the colander will fit into tightly without touching the wood chippings.
Tightly cover with cling film.
Place the pan onto the stove and wait until you see smoke gather inside the pan.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool without removing the cling film.
Take the raisins from the colander and cut into 1/4‘s.
Store in a container.
Vanilla salt
- 500g Maldon salt
- 5 Vanilla pods
Heat an oven to 180ºc then turn off.
Cut the vanilla pods in half lengthways with a small knife.
Scrape the seeds from the pods and place them in a mixing bowl. Add the molden salt and mix together.
Place onto an oven proof tray and place in the oven for 2 hours to dry out.
Using the end of a rolling pin, crush the salt mixture back down to resemble the original molden salt.
Store in a container in a cool dry area.
Pain d’epice and seaweed mix
- 1 loaf Pain D’epice
- 200g Latude du mere
- 4 egg whites
- 200g icing sugar
Heat an oven to 220ºc then turn off. Leave for 5 minutes.
Place the pain d’epice onto a cooling wire. Place in the oven to dry out. This should take around 2-3 hours.
Place the latude du mere into a colander and wash for 20 minute under cold running water to remove the salt.
Mix the egg whites and icing sugar together.
Tie string around an area which is cool. Individually dip each piece of the latude du mere into the egg mixture.
Remove any excess mixture from the latude du mere and hang over the string.
Allow to dry out for around 12 hours.
Place the pain d’epice and the latude du mere into a food processor and pulse to form breadcrumbs.
Store in an air tight container in a cool dry place.
Soya dressing
- 50g White wine vinegar
- 150g Vegetable oil
- 100g Soya sauce
Place the vinegar and oil into a liquidizer and turn onto full power for 2 minutes.
Gradually add the soya sauce and continue to liquidize for 1 minute.
Pour the dressing into a squirty bottle and store in the fridge until required.
Spiced lentils
- 1kg Lentils du puys
- 500g Red onions fine chopped
- 50g Vegetable oil
- 600g Soy sauce
- 600g Balsamic vinegar
- 460g Tomato ketchup
- 460g Sweet chilli sauce
- 125g Pickled ginger finely chopped
- 15g Ground cumin
- 3 lt Sparkling mineral water
Place the lentils in a pan along with the mineral water and place on the stove.
Simmer gently until tender, around 40 minutes then cool.
Heat a large pan and add the vegetable oil. Add the onions and the cumin and gently fry without colour until they become slightly opaque.
Add the vinegar and reduce to a syrup.
Add the remaining ingredients and simmer to a thick sauce consistency.
Remove from the stove and add the cooked lentils to this mixture and stir.
Place in a suitable container and cover and cool.
Store in the fridge until required.
Apple and vanilla purée
- 400g Granny smiths, peeled and finely sliced
- 40g Sugar
- ¼ Vanilla pod
- 100ml Water
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod with a small knife.
Place the sliced apples, sugar and vanilla seeds and scraped pod into a small pan along with the water.
Tightly cling film the pan and place it on the stove.
Cook until the apples are soft, around 35 minutes.
Remove from the stove and empty the contents of the pan into a liquidizer.
Turn onto full power for 5 minutes.
Pour the contents of the liquidizer through a fine sieve.
Place the puree in a container and store in the fridge until required.
Foie gras
- 1 Lobe foie gras
- 5g Sugar
- 2g Salt
- 1g Pink salt
- 15g Madeira
Place the foie gras into a food bag and seal. Leave in a warm area to soften.
Place the sugar, salt and pink salt in a bowl and mix together. Set to one side for use later.
Once soft lay on a clean cloth, smooth side down.
Using the handle of a dessert spoon make a sweeping incision through the middle of the lobe coming down and out to one side without splitting the lobe at the sides. Repeat for the other side of the lobe.
Using the spoon carefully remove the veins from the lobe paying attention not to piece the lobe.
Once all of the veins have been removed season the foie gras with the salt mixture and the Madeira.
Lay out cling film flat on the bench.
Roll the foie gras into a sausage shape and place onto the cling film.
Tightly roll the cling film around the foie gras 3 or 4 times.
Using a cocktail stick pierce the cling film along the foie gras several times.
Squeeze the ends of the cling film to disburse any extra liquids and air trapped.
Continue to roll in the cling film 4 or 5 more times then cut the cling film off.
Tie one end of the cling film. Holding the open end roll the sausage away from you to tighten. Tie off the remaining end of cling film.
Place the foie gras in the freezer for 3 hours.
Take the foie gras out of the freezer and remove the cling film.
Heat a non stick frying pan on the stove until it starts to smoke.
Carefully place the foie gras into the pan turning every 10 seconds until you achieve a dark brown colour all around. Remove from the pan.
Again, place a new piece of cling film on the bench and place the foie gras in the middle.
Continue exactly as we did previously and place back into the freezer for a further 2 hours.
Heat a pan of water to 50ºc.
Place the foie gras into the pan and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from the water and place back into the freezer for 30 minutes to chill quickly.
Once cool store in the fridge.
Salmon
- Side salmon
- 300g Table salt
- 150g Sugar
- 2 Vanilla pods
- 100g Whiskey
- 500g Vegetable oil
- 5 Coriander seeds
- 5 White pepper corns
- 2 Star anise
Mix the salt, sugar and 1 split vanilla pod together.
Clean and trim the salmon sides removing the bones with tweezers.
Cut the side in half to make them more manageable.
Using a sharp knife carefully remove the fillet from the skin using a barrel motion running the knife between the fillet and blood line .Start in the middle of the fillet and work towards the blood line then round and between the skin and the fillet.
Repeat this from the other side of the salmon. (For each side of salmon you should yield 4 barrels).
Check that all the blood and fat has been removed from each fillet.
Portion the salmon into 35g pieces.
Season a tray with 30g of the salt mix and pour on the whiskey.
Place the salmon on top of this mix and season a further 20g of the salt mix.
Turn the salmon over and leave to marinate for 20 minutes.
Wash the salmon in cold running water.
Fill a pan with the vegetable oil and remaining ingredients and bring up to 45ºc.
Place the salmon into the pan for 15 minutes taking care to regulate the temperature.
Remove and drain on a clean cloth.
To finish
- Freshly ground coffee powder
- Molden salt
- Coriander cress
- 1g chopped coriander
Warm 30g of the spiced lentils.
Fill a container with hot tap water and place a sharp knife into it.Unwrap any cling film from the foie gras.
Use the hot knife to take a slice from the foie gras around 5mm thick. Drizzle with the soya dressing and season with a little molden salt.
Using a teaspoon take a spoon of the apple puree. Place the spoon on the plate at the top. Allow the puree to fall onto the plate without the spoon leaving the plate. Slowly pull the spoon down and to the right to form a “swipe”.
Place the tip of the spoon in the puree at the top of the plate and pull down and round to the left.
Place a small pile of red cabbage puree halfway down the swipe to the left.
Place 4 pieces of smoked raisin around the red cabbage puree.
Take a small pinch of the coffee powder and put a line through the swipe above the red cabbage puree with the powder.
Place the slice of foie gras on top of the red cabbage puree. Neatly arrange 2 springs of coriander cress around the foie gras.
Add the chopped coriander to the warmed spiced lentils and place through the middle of the swipe to the right.
Season the warm salmon with a little of the vanilla salt. Sprinkle with the pain d’epice crumbs to form a crust.
Place the salmon on top of the spiced lentils.
Drizzle the soya dressing around the dish taking care not to get any on the salmon or the foie gras.
Serves 4
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Truly amazing recipe… more of the same please…. thks for bringing it to us… enjoy reading my dail stint of inspiration….