Tea Smoked Salmon or Trout …

              

I’m going to blog as I go along with this one! The main method of making today’s dinner is by smoking the fish, something which I’ve never done before and am quite excited about! It also serves to fulfil one of the ‘20 Great Foods You Aren’t Eating, according to The Times’ posts I promised a few weeks ago as I shall be using Green Tea to smoke the salmon.

I found a very simple recipe from Waitrose, which I shall be following in order to undertake the smoking, and I shall take their serving suggestion of crème fraiche and chilli jam, but I already have my own jam so shall use that instead. I’m also going to cook some new potatoes and spinach on which to serve the fish as this is dinner, our main meal, rather than a light lunch. The OH has also just gone to Swimming for Triathlon training and will be starving by the time he returns, so something more substantial is required.

OK, to start I’ve prepared everything: the sugars and tea is mixed nad sitting on a foil layer in the bottom of the wok (I’m using an electric wok as it’s the only one I’ve got with a lid, so my fingers are crossed that it works as well); New potatoes are in the pan ready to boil and crush; the spinach is sitting on top in a colander so it can gently steam; chilli jam and crème fraiche are out, ready for dolloping! Now all I need to do is wait until 5 to 8 to put the potatoes on. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Wok is on, along with potatoes, although don’t think that lifting the lid to see if there’s smoke will help the process!

Because it’s an electric wok, the heat didn’t get going as quickly as the recipe said, so I ended up leaving them for about 35 minutes. (Of course, it could also have been something to do with peeping in several times out of curiosity!) The potatoes, I boiled then crushed with butter, salt and pepper. The spinach I steamed over the potatoes, and served it all with a dollop of crème fraiche and sweet chilli jam, as per the original recipe.

And as for the flavour? Well, I was expecting not to be able to taste anything, but the flavour of the tea really came through. Smoky and delicate, with the fish shining through. And so easy: equal quantities of sugar and tea leaves, left to smoke without interruption…well, nearly!