Smoked trout with griddled lemon, cucumber + sourdough croutons

This dish, Scandinavian in tone thanks to the pickles and smoked fish, takes ingredients that you may have lying around – lemon, cucumber and bread – and transforms them into something special, by charring them to add a smoky dimension and intensify their natural flavours. I get my smoked trout from Mike Scott, the chef at Hackney’s wonderful Raw Duck restaurant, who smokes it himself at home, but this would work with any good-quality smoked fish, be it trout, mackerel or hot-smoked salmon.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 tablespoon cider vinegar, (get the good unpasteurised stuff if you can)

2 radishes, finely sliced

sea salt

2 baby or lebanese cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise and halved across the middle

1 lemon, cut in half

1 slice sourdough bread

6 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for grilling

2 tablespoons dill, roughly chopped

2 smoked trout fillets, skin removed

borage flowers, to garnish (optional)

4 teaspoons plain natural yoghurt, to serve

METHOD

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a small bowl and quick-pickle the radish slices in the mixture.

Heat a griddle pan over a high heat until it’s stinking hot. Scatter with a pinch of sea salt. Brush the cucumber pieces, cut sides of the lemon and sourdough bread with olive oil and griddle for about 8 minutes, until there are black grill marks on them, turning the bread and cucumber over once.

When the ingredients are grilled, remove from the heat and squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl with the olive oil. Whisk with a fork, add the dill and a pinch of salt, and whisk some more, until well combined. Cut the sourdough into croutons.

Drain the radishes from their pickle liquor and place on kitchen paper to absorb the excess vinegar. Divide the cucumber between two plates and flake over the smoked trout. Top with the radish slices and drizzle over the dill and lemon oil. Scatter over the sourdough croutons and borage flowers, if using, and finish each serving with a couple of teaspoons of natural yoghurt.

#rosiebirkett #trout #borageflowers #yogurt