500g trout fillet
80g salt
20g sugar
iced water
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lime
½ carrot and ½ cucumber, cut into fine matchsticks
handful of chives
For the pickled mustard seeds
50g mustard seeds
85ml vinegar
35ml water
25g sugar
3g salt
TO SERVE: Creamy burrata, seasonal edible flowers and fennel tips
1 Use a good quality fresh fish fillet for this recipe. Leave the skin on and remove all of the bones, using tweezers. In the meantime, mix the salt and sugar in a bowl.
2 Rub the salt and sugar mixture on the skin and flesh sides of the trout and place the fish in the fridge (covered with a lid) skin side down. Leave to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
3 Remove from the container and rinse under iced water to wash off the salt.
4 Dry it well with kitchen paper or a clean towel , place skin side down and grate your lime and lemon zest on top. Cover again and rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.
5 In a blender, place the chives, a pinch of salt, cover with a light olive oil and blend thoroughly; sieve and store in the fridge.
6 For the pickled mustard seeds: Repeatedly blanch the seeds in fresh water (up to 6 times) to remove their bitterness; prepare the marinade by mixing all the ingredients together. Then place the seeds in the marinade. Store in a jar in the fridge. (We usually make more than we need as it keeps well in the fridge.)
7 To serve: Thinly slice the trout (avoiding the skin), and wrap around the carrot and cucumber into a loose roll. Serve on top of a creamy burrata, (use its milk as a sauce) with drops of chive oil, a spoonful of your seeds, and scatter fennel tips and flowers.
Bubb’s latest pinot grigio. Better known as the co-winemaker, with his wife Anna Pooley, at her family’s Tasmanian winery, Bubb flies solo with a range of Italian wines. He allows some skin contact to give weight and structure and keeps the young wine on its yeast lees for eight months to build the texture. The result is a pinot grigio of depth and complexity to work well with this salad.