Confit Salmon

This is a deliciously simple dish with the salmon just cooked in olive oil infused with vanilla, cardamom and star aniseed. Giving it a delicate flavour. Confit is traditionally prepared with goose or duck fat, if you would like to try this with duck fat you can use two methods: 1. Bring some duck fat or goose fat just to the simmer and remove it from the heat and place the salmon in it and leave it to stand for 12-15 minutes or 2. Place the salmon darnes with duck fat (enough to coat them) in small heat proof bags and seal them well, then place them in a sink or container of hot water and leave them to for 12-15 minutes.

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Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes

Ingredients

Salmon

6x200g, pinbones and skin removed
maldon salt

Olive Oil

800ml olive oil
1 vanilla pod
5 cardamom pods
3 star aniseed
5 white peppercorns

New Potatoes

300g new potatoes, boiled until just tender and cooled
maldon salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Serve

100ml creme fraiche
50ml double cream
juice of half a lime
3 tbsp chives, finely chopped
side salad of mixed small salad leaves, dressed with a little extra virgin olive oil and a little lime juice

Method

Olive Oil: Place the olive oil, vanilla pod, cardamom pods, white peppercorns and star aniseed. Bring the oil to a steady simmer for 5 minutes then remove it from the heat and allow it to cool and infuse the flavours of the aromatics.
To Cook: Strain the aromatics from the oil and place it in a saucepan large enough to hold the salmon in one layer, heat the oil to just bellow a simmer and remove it from the heat. Season the 6 salmon darnes with a little salt and place the salmon in the oil and leave it to cook for 12-15 minutes, just sealing the outside and leaving it pink inside. Carefully remove the salmon from the oil with a palate knife or fish knife. Set them aside to cool until ready to serve
New Potatoes: Slice the new potatoes into thin slices, season them with a little salt and pepper and toss them in a little over the olive oil the salmon was cooked in. Set them aside until ready to serve.
To Serve: Mix the creme fraiche, double cream and lime juice together. Place a single layer of new potato slices across the centre of each plate so that the slices overlap each other. Slice each darne of salmon into 5-7 slices widthwise and place each one on the potatoes overlapping the slices so that they are fanned out. Drizzle the creme fraiche around the edges of each plate. Sprinkle the chives around the plate and drizzle the a little of the salmon oil over the salmon and plates. Serve with a side salad of small lettuce leaves.