Smoked Salmon from The Handpicked Foodstore

I'll never say no to smoked salmon thank you very much - so when I was asked if I'd like to review some from The Handpicked Foodstore the answer was a most definite yes please!

  Photo supplied by The Handpicked Foodstore.
You may have seen my post on the oh so very cute Olive Oil Dipping Dish from The Handpicked Collection - well, they have just launched The Handpicked Foodstore.

About:  
All of their smoked salmon is sourced by MacGilvray and from the cold clear waters of the Scottish West Highlands.  Dry cured and oak-smoked in traditional brick-built kilns.
Having tasted it I can confirm it was excellent.  This may sound a little mad but it actually tasted of salmon.  Believe me, I have had salmon in the past from a couple of well known supermarkets which hasn't tasted of anything much at all.
The salmon arrived perfectly packaged in a polystyrene ice-filled pockets around it.  A card was included showing you how to carve a whole side of salmon if that's what you'd bought.  If you'd bought sliced salmon then the card told you the best way to serve it.

It's not all about Smoked Salmon:
 They also have a great range of other fine foods besides salmon along with gift boxes, hampers and wines and spirits too.

Thank you to Natasha at The Handpicked Foodstore for sending me some to try.
All words and thoughts are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

Foil Baked Salmon with Sweet Chilli and Crushed Pineapple

Another of my make it up as I go along salmon recipes. Salmon fillet with a glaze made from pineapple juice, soy sauce, Mirin and a few other bits and bobs. I added a chopped red chilli, then topped the salmon with the drained crushed pineapple and baked in foil.  Tasty, quick and very easy, read on for the full recipe.
 Norwegian salmon is an oily fish, rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and vitamins A and D, which makes it a hugely popular addition to a heart and brain-healthy diet.

     Salmon is a very versatile fish which can be poached, grilled, pan-fried, baked or roasted for delicious hot dishes, summer salads and BBQs. 

Because it is of premium quality, salmon from Norway can also be enjoyed raw in dishes such as sushi or sashimi.

  With the country’s clean, clear, cool waters, seafood from Norway is of excellent quality.  Norwegian salmon is no exception, it has a rich flavour and a softer, redder flesh than other salmon species, which turns a delicate pink when cooking.  Deliciously sweet, the fish has well defined flakes, which fall away easily once cooked.

You can find out more over at the Seafood From Norway FaceBook Page.

Forman and Field Tasting Hamper - Review

I was recently sent a lovely 'Tasting Hamper' to review from Forman and Field.
The hamper arrived around early in the morning, was perfectly packed and full of loads of yummy food.....

 What was inside?!

Salmon Ceviche with a Florida Grapefruit Dressing

 Salmon Ceviche with Cucumber, Chive and Florida Grapefruit dressing - sound good?  Then read on.......

  You may remember a while back when I told you about a competition Florida Grapefruit were holding over at their FaceBook page.  Well last week I went to London along with a few other food bloggers and had a lovely day with the winner Victoria Ashley and Celebrity Masterchef winner Lisa Faulkner.

Victoria won the competition with her delicious Florida grapefruit, honey and
ginger cheesecake!

 Victoria's recipe for her cheesecake can be found here.

Lisa showed us a couple of recipes using Florida grapefruit which is the sweetest and juiciest variety of grapefruit!  Perfect for making dressings and a whole load of recipes I wouldn't have thought of.

First of all here we are, Helen, Michelle and myself segmenting a grapefruit.

 I was quite pleased with my segments!

Then we watched Victoria making her winning cheesecake with Lisa as her helper.

Then we all sat down to a lovely dinner and the main dish 'Smoked chicken, avocado and Florida grapefruit salad' which was yummy!

    Print Recipe

Here is Lisa's recipe for Salmon Ceviche with cucumber chive and Florida grapefruit dressing:

 To serve 4 you will need:
400g salmon fillet - skinned and pin-boned and sliced as thin as possible.
Florida grapefruit
80ml extra virgin olive oil
40ml white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped chives
1 cucumber
salt and pepper to season

Method:
Peel the cucumber, deseed and finely slice into ribbons
Segment the Florida grapefruit and dice
In a bowl, mix the oil, vinegar and then season.  Add the chives and stir.
Arrange the salmon, cucumber and grapefruit on a plate and pour over the dressing.  Serve straight away.

Congratulations to Victoria for her winning recipe!  And thank you to Lisa and Neil and his team for a great day.

Foil Baked Salmon and King Prawns with Chilli and Lime Butter

Another of my 'make it up as I go along' easy to cook salmon recipes.  Just bake the salmon in a foil parcel.  Add a few King Prawns and some other bits and bobs with lime zest and a squeeze of the juice along with a knob of butter.  Done and ready to eat in 20 minutes! 

Now that can't be bad can it?! 

Foil Baked Salmon - with Sweet Soy and Peppers

Slightly sweet, slightly sticky, slightly tingly in the mouth.  
Jans' 'Make it Up as you Go Along' foil baked salmon. 

Salmon fillets marinated in Indonesian sweet soy sauce with peppers, chilli 

and spring onions.

Thai Style Salmon Fishcakes

I felt the need to make Thai fishcakes. I only had salmon (no white fish) and I was limited to what I had in my cupboards and fridge, I came up with these.

I really wanted the outside to be crispy, so seeing as I had a bag of potato starch living in my cupboard (as you do)!
I wondered what would happen if I coated the fishcakes in it before frying.
A marvelous idea - it worked! You don't want much - just a coating.



Print this Recipe

You will need:
250g of salmon fillet - cut into chunks
1 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp red curry paste
2 kaffir lime leaves -shredded very finely
1 green birds eye chilli - deseeded and finely chopped
1 egg - yolk only
1 tsp palm sugar or muscovado sugar
½ tsp salt 2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbs of cornflour - if needed to thicken
**optional - a couple of spoons of potato starch to give extra crunch
a glug of sunflower oil - for frying

How to do it:
Put the fish in a food processor with the fish sauce, curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, egg yolk, sugar and salt. Process until smooth.

Put the mixture into a bowl. Add the cornflour (if you need it) to thicken the mixture.
Stir in the chopped spring onions and the chilli.
Divide the mixture into 4 pieces - or 8 if you want baby fishcakes .
Using your hands, roll each one into a ball and then flatten into rounds.
Roll each one in potato starch (optional).

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the fish cakes in (in batches if you need to) for a minute or so on each side depending on their size.
You want them nice and golden brown. Once they're cooked, remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Serve immediately with a nice dipping sauce. Mine was a sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Teriyaki Salmon and Some Other Nice Things

Quick and simple is what I was after yesterday! So, out came the kitchen foil and salmon yet again.

I made it up as I went along finding more things to add to my foil parcels.

Therefore the whole dish was made from bits and bobs in my fridge - for example just half a bell pepper is needed and one carrot - nothing too costly, just left overs really.

The picture below is one salmon fillet ready for the oven.

I prepared this before I went to work, so when I arrived home all that was needed was to pop the parcels into the oven and stir fry some rice noodles.

Da da - dinner sorted!

You will need to serve 2:

2 pieces of salmon fillet - skinless

a bottle of Teriyaki marinade - you wont need the whole bottle though!

1 small cube of fresh ginger root (half and inch cube) - peeled and finely diced

Put the salmon fillets into a small dish and add a good dose of the marinade and the chopped ginger. Cover with cling film. Keep basting them and leave for at least half an hour.

Preheat your oven to 200C/400F or Gas 6

Meanwhile, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients.

1 small carrot - sliced into very thin strips

half of a red bell pepper, or any colour you fancy - sliced into thin strips

1 small red onion - again sliced into thin strips

half of a fresh green chili pepper - de-seeded and sliced very finely

a lime - slice half of it and keep half for squeezing over that salmon later on

a little olive oil

How to do it:

Remove the salmon from the marinade but reserve the liquid for later.

Get yourself a two large pieces of good quality kitchen foil - the thin stuff isn't any good as it will tear easily.

Drizzle a little olive oil on each piece of foil.

Lay one piece of salmon in each foil - you will be making a parcel from the foil.

Add equal amounts of the sliced ingredients, bell pepper, onion, carrot and lime to each parcel and sprinkle with the chopped chili pepper.

Squeeze the lot with a little lime juice from the half you kept earlier.

Drizzle with a little of the marinade liquid and a little olive oil.

Bring the foil up each side till they meet and make a parcel.

Pop them onto a baking tray into a preheated oven for about 20 minutes - depending on the size of your salmon pieces.

The end result was yummy. My picture isn't too good, but you can get the idea through the blur!

I served the salmon in the foil with some stir fried rice noodles that I'd added a little soy sauce to when stir frying. Simple and delicious!

Top Tip;
Did you know you can freeze fresh ginger root? It doesn't loose any of it's flavor and so you can be sure to always have some handy! All that happens to it is it goes soft. It defrosts in no time at all and can be used as normal.
So, next time you buy some freeze a bit in a plastic bag.

Salmon Baked with Herbs & Caramelized Lemons

When I saw Gordon Ramsay make baked salmon with herbs and caramelized lemons, I had to make it!

Now he used a whole salmon but obviously for two people this would have been an overdose! So, I used a 400g piece of filleted salmon but still with the skin on, which I removed one it was cooked.

To serve 2 you will need:

Salmon fillet about 400g
1 lemon - thickly sliced
Olive oil to drizzle
a couple of fresh bay leaves

a couple of fresh sage leaves

a few basil leaves
a sprig of two of each - fresh rosemary, thyme and parsley
1 lemon grass stalks - cut in half and bruised with the back of a knife
3 garlic cloves, skin on - cut in half
Freshly ground black pepper
2 whole star anise

The picture below shows the salmon ready for the oven.

Get your self a large piece of kitchen foil. make a few cuts in the skin side of the salmon. Drizzle with olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.

Now lay the parsley on the foil and place the salmon onto the foil skin side up.

Put the rest of the herbs on top of the salmon. Now in a small frying pan put a bit of olive oil, once it's heated up add the slices of lemon along with a little salt and pepper to season. Fry the lemon slices until they start to caramelize.

Now add them to the salmon, placing two underneath and two on top. Now bring the foil together to form a parcel.

Bake in a preheated oven 200C/400F/Gas 6

It will take about 20 minutes - depending on the size of you salmon. Don't be temped to open the foil. The salmon will be perfectly cooked and the smell will be amazing.

Remove all the herbs from the salmon - reserving the lemons. They can be served with the salmon, they taste delicious.

Carefully remove the skin from the salmon, which will slide off easily with a pallet knife. Cut the salmon into two pieces and serve.

I served mine with a few leaves and a lemon butter sauce.

I also did a few baby potatoes with a little butter added along with some freshly snipped chives.

This salmon is really so easy to do and so very tasty. The best thing is the smell as it cooks with the best to come once the foil parcel is opened. The kitchen smells amazing.

Too make the lemon butter sauce:

30g finely chopped shallots
30ml white wine vinegar
30ml of water
45ml of dry white wine
15ml double (heavy) cream
120g unsalted butter - cut into cubes and kept cold in the fridge until needed
Juice from half a lemon and the zest from a whole lemon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper

How to do it:
Put the shallots into a pan with the white wine vinegar, wine and the water. Reduce to a quarter of the original amount liquid wise. This is important or your sauce will taste of vinegar.
Add the cream and boil for a minute.
Now, whisk in the butter cubes a few at a time, keep whisking whilst taking the sauce on and off the heat and keep adding a bit more butter.
The sauce should look smooth and shiny but with no sign of an oily film.
Now whisk in the lemon juice and zest and season to taste with a teeny bit of salt, black pepper and the cayenne pepper.

Pass the sauce through a sieve to remove the shallot and serve immediately.

If you would like the bake a whole salmon you can see Gordon Ramsay's recipe here.