Mustard With Mutton

 I’ve been wanting to make Greg Malouf’s salmon tarator ever since I first saw him cook it on the television series Food Safari when host Maeve O’Meara proclaimed it the best salmon she’s ever tasted. Now when I hear someone say that, especially Maeve whose had her fair share of incredible meals, I get very excited. And this is definitely a dish to get excited about. It’s such an unusual way of preparing salmon both in the cooking method, ingredients and serving style. It’s actually perfect for a buffet table and this being Easter a perfect dish to serve on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. Greg Malouf cooked a whole salmon and if you’re feeding a crowd this would be the way to go. I was making it for just 4 people so I used half of one side of salmon which weighed about 1kg. You could of course use a whole side of salmon that will easily feed 6-8 people and the leftovers are delicious. The salmon is baked in the oven, wrapped in baking paper, and then doused with a tahini spiked yogurt sauce and topped with a thick layer of very finely chopped coriander, red onion, chilli and walnuts – told you it was unusual! This is an easy dish to prepare but real time needs to be taken in finely chopping all the ingredients – getting lazy with this step will result in a poorer finished product. Don’t be sacred either by the short cooking time at a low temperature; the salmon will come out just on the verge of medium rare with an almost confit like texture that tastes even better than poached salmon. The final dish is served at room temperature so it can be prepared in advance which makes it even more entertainment friendly.

Ingredients  Adapted from Greg Malouf  via Food Safari

Fish
1 x 1kg side salmon, cut from the centre, pin bones removed but with the skin on
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for brushing
Yoghurt Whipped Tahini
150g natural yoghurt
3 tablespoons tahini, well-stirred
1 clove garlic crushed with teaspoon sea salt
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Tarator
100g walnuts
1 cup very finely shredded coriander leaves
1 small purple onion, very finely diced
1 long red chilli, seeded and very finely diced
½ teaspoon ground sumac
Juice of 1 lemon
60ml extra virgin olive oil
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Method
To prepare the salmon, trim about 1.5cm from the belly so you have a neat, even sided rectangle. Remove all pin bones. Brush the salmon with olive oil and season all over with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 100C. Remove the salmon from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. Then wrap in baking paper and place skin side down, in a large baking tray. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully turn the salmon skin side up. Return to the oven for a further 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest in the tray for 10 minutes. Unwrap and discard the paper. Peel away the skin, then gently scrape away all of the grey blood line from the fish. Set aside.

 

To make the yoghurt whipped with tahini, whisk all of the ingredients together until smooth and creamy.

To make the tarator, preheat the oven to 160C. Spread the walnuts out on a baking tray and roast for 8-10 minutes shaking them around from time to time so they colour evenly. Tip the nuts into a tea towel and rub vigorously to remove as much of their papery brown skin as possible. Chop the walnuts very finely and put in a mixing bowl with the coriander, onion, chilli and sumac. Pour on the lemon juice and oil, season with salt and pepper and mix well.

To serve the salmon, smear the exposed surface with the yoghurt-tahini sauce, I like to have a generous coating of this; then pack on the tarator topping neatly and evenly so it completely coast the fish. Serve at room temperature with some extra sauce on the side.