Salted Salmon with Tarragon Butter

This recipe comes from a fascinating book by award-winning food writer Sybil Kapoor called Sight Smell Touch Taste Sound which reveals the role our senses can play in the way we cook and eat.

This simple delicious recipe from a chapter on taste shows how salt can highlight taste and texture of fish like salmon.

Sybil writes: "Fish and meat in European cooking are traditionally salted to help preserve them – for example, smoked salmon or duck confit. In countries such as China and Japan, salting is also used to change the texture of food and, equally importantly, to remove fishy or meaty odours, partly by extracting blood and bitter juices.

Dry salting, such as here, is used for oily fish such as mackerel, herring and salmon. The longer any ingredient is salted, the more liquid is extracted and the saltier the ingredient will taste. The art is to allow just enough salt to develop the umami tastes, but not so much that all the tastes are submerged beneath the salt. The tarragon butter adds a tempting rich texture and depth of flavour."

Serves 6

6 x 175 g/6 oz salmon fillets with skin

3 tsp fine sea salt

2–3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

For the tarragon butter

1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon leaves

1 lemon, finely grated, plus 1 tsp juice

55 g/2 oz/scant 4 tbsp

unsalted butter, softened

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place a plate or tray large enough to hold the fish on the work surface. Evenly sprinkle the surface of the plate/tray with half the salt. Lay the fillets skin-side down on the plate/tray, then sprinkle the remaining salt over the fish. Chill for 40 minutes.

Make the tarragon butter by beating together the chopped tarragon, lemon zest and juice and butter in a small bowl. Very lightly season to taste, as the fish is already salty. Spoon the butter onto some greaseproof (wax) paper to roughly form a sausage shape – roll up the paper and gently roll it under your fingers until it forms a smooth cylinder.

Chill until needed.

Preheat 2 non-stick frying pans (skillets) over a medium-high heat. Once hot, add 1–1½ tbsp olive oil to each pan, then add 3 salmon fillets, flesh-side down, to each pan. Fry briskly for 3 minutes, or until seared and golden, then turn and cook for 3–4 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and the salmon is just cooked through. Plate the salmon, topping each fillet with a round slice of tarragon butter. Serve immediately.

What to drink:

I particularly like chardonnay with tarragon (see What wine should you pair with herbs) so I'd probably go for a Chablis or other subtly oaked chardonnay but a crisp sauvignon blanc from the Loire such as a Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé would also work well.

For other salmon pairings see 10 great wine pairings with salmon

Recipe from Sight, Smell, Touch, Taste, Sound: A New way to cook by Sybil Kapoor, published by Pavilion Books. Image © Keiko Oikawa

Yogurt & spice roasted salmon

A new Sabrina Ghayour book is always a treat, especially her most recent one Simply, which is packed full of her trademark flavourful recipes. I've tried a couple of them now but particularly liked this ridiculously easy, tasty salmon dish.

Sabrina writes: I love to cook salmon in the oven. It’s lazy, quick, works really well and you don’t need any oil, as salmon is naturally fatty and delicious.

These little salmon bites are something I’ve made time and time again over the years and this method of roasting them at a high temperature ensures you get a little charring on the outside yet perfectly cooked salmon on the inside. Leftovers also make a great addition to your lunchbox the next day.

Serves 4

500g skinless salmon fillet, cut into 4cm cubes

For the marinade

4 tablespoons Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon garlic granules

1 heaped tablespoon rose harissa 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon paprika

finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lime and a good squeeze of juice

1 teaspoon olive oil

generous amount of Maldon sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

tortilla wraps

sliced tomatoes

finely sliced onion

coriander leaves

Greek yogurt

Preheat your oven to its highest setting (with fan if it has one). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Add the salmon and turn until well coated in the marinade.

Spread the salmon out on the prepared baking tray and roast for 10 minutes until cooked through. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with tortilla wraps, tomatoes, finely sliced onion, coriander leaves and Greek yogurt.

What to drink: A crisp zesty white like a Rueda or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc would be perfect with this or a lime Australian riesling

And for other salmon pairings see 10 great wine pairings with salmon

Simply: Easy Everyday Dishes from the Bestselling Author of Persiana by Sabrina Ghayour is published by Mitchell Beazley, £26.00,www.octopusbooks.co.uk. Photography: Kris Kirkham

Jersey royal potatoes with peas, wild garlic and crème fraîche

A recipe for one of my favourite ingredients (potatoes) from one of my favourite restaurants, Root in Bristol, whose chef, Rob Howell has written a glorious cookbook of their food which is basically vegetable-based without being wholly veggie.

This is the perfect recipe for early spring when the temperatures haven't quite caught up with the produce.

Rob writes: "This dish is a joyous celebration of the arrival of spring. The winter months are a fast passing memory and green shoots are showing all around. Jersey Royals are such beautiful potatoes with a unique flavour. If you can’t be bothered to make the pea purée then the Jerseys will still be great simply served with good butter, fresh peas and some locally growing wild garlic – a true spring feast."

SERVES 4

1kg Jersey Royal potatoes

2 bay leaves

2 thyme sprigs

2 mint sprigs

2 garlic cloves, crushed

10g salt

2 tablespoons cooking oil

2 shallots, diced

200g fresh peas

25g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons chopped chives

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 handfuls of wild garlic

4 tablespoons crème fraiche

FOR THE PEA PURÉE

50ml rapeseed oil

1 shallot, sliced

1 garlic clove, sliced

600ml vegetable stock

375g frozen peas

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with enough cold water just to cover them. Add the bay, thyme and mint sprigs, and the crushed garlic and salt. (Feel free to use other aromatics, if you wish – just any that you have available. For example, parsley, rosemary and oregano would all work, too.) Place the pan over a medium heat and bring to a low simmer. Cook the potatoes gently for 20–25 minutes, until just tender to the point of a knife. (They will continue to cook a little once you’ve drained them, so you don’t want them too soft.) Drain and leave to cool in the colander.

To make the pea purée, heat the rapeseed oil in a large saucepan over a high heat. When hot, add the shallot and garlic, season with a touch of salt and fry for 2–3 minutes, until softened. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Add the peas and season again with salt and this time pepper, too. Take the pan off the heat and drain the peas, reserving the stock.

Set aside 100ml of the reserved stock in a jug. Put the peas in a food processor, add a little of the remaining stock liquid and blend. Keep adding stock through the feed tube little by little until you have a lovely, smooth pea purée. If you want an extra-smooth consistency, pass the purée through a sieve, but it’s not essential. Check the seasoning and cool the purée as quickly as possible – transferring it to a bowl and setting it inside a larger bowl filled with ice and placing in the fridge is a good way to do this. Chill until needed. (It also keeps well for 2–3 days in the fridge and freezes well.)

Heat the cooking oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add the shallots and fry for 30 seconds, then add the cooled potatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add the fresh peas and the reserved 100ml of stock, and bring to the boil.

Reduce to a simmer, then add the butter, herbs and wild garlic (reserve a few wild garlic flowers for garnish). Stir through the pea purée, adding enough to coat the potatoes and to create a nice saucy pan of green goodness (you can use any remaining purée as a soup or to serve with fish). Check the seasoning one last time and transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with wild garlic flowers and serve with the crème fraîche on top.

What to drink: You could go for either a red or white wine with this dish. A light pinot noir would be a good pairing - it always goes well with peas or, as the dish is so classically British, maybe think of an English white like Bacchus or even an English chardonnay

Credit: Root by Rob Howell (Bloomsbury Publishing, £26) is out now. Photography by Alexander J Collins.

Rob Howell's restaurant Root is at Wapping Wharf, Bristol. rootbristol.co.uk

Potato boulangère

There are few totally new recipes but sometimes just thinking of one in a different way as Joe Woodhouse has done with his gorgeously crispy potato boulangère in his inspiring new book Your Daily Veg takes them to another level.

Joe writes: I used to make this with the potatoes cut into slices and all laid out flat, which works just fine. But standing the potato slices up gives a brilliant crunchy element on top, while the bottom half steams and softens, going wonderfully creamy.

When slicing the potato, a mandolin is great but by hand is fine; what’s important is to slice them as evenly as possible.

SERVES 6

– 150g (5½oz) unsalted butter

– 3 onions, finely sliced

– 4 garlic cloves, finely sliced

– 3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

– 1.25kg (2lb 12oz) floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or Desirée, peeled and finely sliced

– 300ml (10fl oz) vegetable stock

– sea salt flakes and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4.

2. Melt half the butter in a large pan that will hold all of the ingredients over medium heat and add the onions, garlic and thyme leaves. Cook gently for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the potato slices to coat well with the buttery onions. Season well with salt and pepper.

3. In a 30 × 20cm (12 × 8 inch) baking dish, roughly stack the potatoes upright along the length of the dish. Their edges should point upwards like a roughly shuffled pack of cards and they should sit snugly.

Pour over the vegetable stock and dot the remaining butter evenly over the top of the potatoes.

4. Roast the potatoes in the oven for 50–60 minutes. As they cook they will become creamy and tender underneath and the top edges will crisp. If browning too much on top, cover loosely with foil until tender.

5. Once done, remove from the oven and allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

What to drink: You're perhaps unlikely to pair a wine with the potatoes alone but they'd be an ideal accompaniment for roast lamb or beef so match whatever meat you're serving with it or, if you're keeping it veggie take account of what you've got on the side.

Extracted from Your Daily Veg by Joe Woodhouse, published by Kyle at £22. Photograph © Joe Woodhouse.