Franschhoek Valley Verdure

For cured trout

Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. 

In a baking tray big enough for the trout fillets, pack a thin layer of the cure mix, about 1cm, on the bottom of the tray.

Once cured, remove the fillet from the cure and wash off any excess cure mix under cold running water.

Smoke the trout until the fillet isn’t visible anymore. Pull the pipe out and make sure the tray is wrapped tight so no smoke escapes.

Allow for the fish to cold smoke in the fridge for at least an hour.

Once smoked sufficiently, portion the fillet into 5mm slices and store in an airtight container in the fridge until needed.

Chef tips: an alternative to a smoking tray is a barbecue.

Herbed emulsion

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and have a bowl of ice water ready.

Blanch the baby spinach and watercress by submerging them in the boiling water for no longer than 5 seconds, then plunge the blanched leaves into the ice water so that they retain their vibrant green colour. Allow them to cool completely before you remove them.

Once cold, remove the leaves from the ice water and squeeze all the excess water out of them. Pat them dry using a tea towel.

Place the blanched and refreshed leaves and the remaining ingredients, except the oil, in a blender, and blend on a high speed until the mixture turns bright green. If the mixture appears thin, slowly add the oil in small increments while the emulsion blends until it thickens.  

Store in a squeeze bottle in the fridge until needed.

For Japanese-style horseradish mayonnaise

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until thoroughly combined.

Store in a squeeze bottle in the fridge until needed.

Chef tips: The Japanese horseradish mayonnaise is simply Kewpie mayo that has horseradish blended through it . 

Puffed fish skin

Scrape the fish skin free of any excess meat and scales.

Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and blanch the skin for 20 seconds, then remove.

On a metal tray lined with parchment paper, spread the skin flat and evenly, and dehydrate in a dehydrator or oven set to 50 degrees Celsius overnight until crisp.

Cut the fish skin using scissors into roughly 2cm x 3cm shards.

Heat a pot of oil until smoking hot and, using tweezers, plunge one fish skin shard at a time in the hot oil until it puffs up significantly. Remove from the oil and allow excess oil to drain on a paper towel.

Store the puffed fish skin in an airtight container, preferably with a tab of silica in the container to maintain freshness.

Smoked and pulled trout trimmings

Set up your smoking tray and smoke your trout trimmings (head, bones and belly offcuts), ensuring that the tray doesn’t get too hot by controlling the amount of heat by removing the tray every now and then. Smoke like this for about 8 minutes, then remove the tray of smoked fish trimmings and cook through in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius until the meat fibres separate easily.

Pick all the meat from the bones and head and reserve in a bowl.

Preheat an oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Wrap the garlic cloves, still with their skin on, in tin foil and roast for 45 minutes until soft.

Push the garlic out of its skin and use a knife to scrape it into a paste.

Combine the smoked and picked trout, roast garlic paste, gherkin, red onion, mayonnaise, lemon juice and zest and dill in a bowl and mix the ingredients together.

Chef tips: an alternative to a smoking tray is a barbecue.

Plating

I have created 3 separate plates that turn each plate into an element as a collective of one dish.
This makes it much more manageable to recreate at home, where you can have a whole plate of the sliced trout and a bowl of the side salad in the centre of your table for guests to dish, share, and discuss. 
Accompanied by mouth wateringly tasty and sustainable canapes to serve before the meal, it’s perfect to showcase your newly-found foraging knowledge at any diner party.

CANAPE PLATE:

• Puffed trout skin
• Hot smoked trout trimmings with roasted garlic aioli
• Locally foraged herbs and flowers

PLATE 1:

• 2-hour cured, 1-hour cold-smoked locally-caught Franschhoek trout
• Leeu Estate grown watercress, nasturtium and baby spinach emulsion
• Japanese-style horseradish mayonnaise
• Yuzu caviar (store bought)
• Foraged wild herbs and flowers

PLATE 2:

• Shaved Leeu Estate tender stem broccoli, asparagus and black radish
• Local herbs and flowers, including, wild sweet pea, nasturtium, wood sorrel and chickweed, serradella shoot
• 16 month infused Le Coin Francais limoncello and Leeu Estate extra virgin olive oil dressing

The final dish.