Baked Sweet Salmon with Pickled Sea Radish

In this recipe I've used sea radish which is a coastal cabbage like vegetable. Slightly bitter and has a lingering flavour and best cooked or pickled much like any other green vegetable. Sea radish thrives in poor soil and sandy areas and best picked and eaten during winter months.
For this recipe I've pickled the sea radish until tender and served it with salmon baked in kecap manis. Kecap manis is a fermented sweet soy sauce. A versatile ingredient and simply amazing on its own. Every asian supermarket will sell it, and recently I've seen it being sold in big chain supermarkets.
This dish has a lovely balance of salty and sweet, also worth noting it is a meal on its own.

600g whole salmon filet
100ml kecap manis
300g new potatoes
100g baby spinach, washed

Pickled Sea Radish:
400g sea radish
100ml cider vinegar
200ml water
4 springs tarragon
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 dried red chilli
2 tablespoons sea salt

Tartar Sauce:
3 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon
4 springs dill
3 tablespoons fine capers
2 gherkins
350ml vegetable oil
50ml cold water
Cracked black pepper and sea salt

Method:
Wash the sea radish and slice into 5cm long pieces and place in a large pot. Peel the onion and slice in half (place one half of the onion aside as you will be using it in the tartar sauce) and thinly slice one half the the onion and add to sea radish. Peel the garlic and thinly slice. Add garlic, vinegar, water, tarragon, mustard seeds, chilli and salt into pot with sea radish. Bring the pot to a steady boil over a high heat and cook for a further 10 minutes until sea radish is tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Put the potatoes in a pot and just cover with cold water. Place the pot over a medium/high heat and bring to a simmer. Cook the potatoes until just tender then drain and leave to cool.

In the meantime place salmon filet in a baking tray with risen edges and pour over the kecap manis. Cover the tray tightly with foil and bake in oven set at 180˚C for 25 minutes.

To make the tartar sauce you will need to place yolks, lemon, mustard, dill, capers, gherkins, other half of the red onion and a good amount of salt and pepper to season, in a food processor. Blend ingredients together for 30 seconds, while the processor is still on very slowly pour in half the oil. If you pour the oil in too quickly the sauce will split. Half way through mixing add the water followed by slowly pouring in the remainder of the oil. Taste the tartar sauce and add more seasoning if need be.
To make the salad you can either construct one large platter or make 4-6 individual plates. First lay down the spinach, next evenly distribute over sliced potatoes and desired amount of pickled sea radish. Lastly finish the salad with flaked pieces salmon and dress the top with tartar sauce and serve.

Hot Smoked Salmon Canape's with Kiwi, Strawberry and Cucumber

Incredibly simple and highly effective canape for any dinner party or function. The cool, refreshing cucumber and kiwi cuts through the oily salmon and sweet strawberry kecap manis dressing. Creating harmony in your mouth and the best part is they are almost virtually fat free!

1 cucumber
4 kiwi
250g hot smoked salmon
100ml kecap manis
60g strawberries
3 dashes of tabasco sauce

Method:
Hull the strawberries and place in sauce pan with kecap manis and tobasco. Put pan over a medium heat and bring to a slow simmer, cook till strawberries are just mushy.  Place sauce in food processor and blend till smooth.
Slice cucumber into 5mm thick rounds and lay out evenly on serving patter. Top and tail the kiwi, then using a sharp paring knife slice off the skin by running the knife down the sides of the kiwi. Place kiwi on its side the cut into thin rounds, top each piece of cucumber with a slice of kiwi. Gently flake small chucks of salmon and place on top of each canape. Finally using a teaspoon drizzle a small teaspoon sauce over the salmon and serve as soon as possible.

Pak Choi in a Soy and Gooseberry Dressing

Often I use Kecap Manis or as the Aussies like to call it ketchup mayonnaise, in my creations. Kecap Manis is a sweet form of soy sauce that has been fermented for longer and has a rich thick texture and great on its own. Usually not found in your big chain super market however very very common in Asian markets. Also pairs well with fruit such as strawberries, kiwi, pineapple and in this instance gooseberries. 

800g pak choi
200ml kecap manis
150g red gooseberries
1 red chilli
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon grated ginger

Method:
To make the dressing slice the chilli, then peel garlic and crush. In a small sauce pan add the kecap manis, red gooseberries, chilli, garlic, and ginger. Place over a medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer, cook for about 15 minutes. Place dressing through a food processor, blend till smooth. 
Put a large pot of water on to boil, trim the base off the pak choi and separate the leaves. Once water is boiling add pak choi and cook for around 3-4 minutes till just tender then drain. Serve pak choi with dressing drizzled over top.