Tea-smoking adds complexity to the delicate flavour of trout. It’s a great alternative to wood smoking and much easier. Be sure to have your extractor fan on or your kitchen well ventilated, as the process generates a lot of smoke.
TO DRINK: Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc 2007 is a wine that lives for many years, but it’s just as delicious fresh and young. It’s not completely dry, but nicely balanced.
Tea-smoked trout on potato rosti with chive and horseradish cream
Ingredients
CREAM
- 250ml (1 cup) sour cream
- juice of 1 lemon
- 15ml (1 tbsp) wholegrain mustard
- 15ml (1 tbsp) horseradish sauce
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- a handful of fresh chives, snipped
- 225g rice
- 225g sugar
- 8 tea bags
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4 trout fillets
- 8 large potatoes, unpeeled
- butter, for frying
- rocket, fresh chives or dill, to garnish
Instructions
For the cream, beat the sour cream, lemon juice, mustard and horseradish sauce with an electric beater until almost thick. Season and stir in the chives. Chill until set, about 1 hour.
Line a wok with foil and heat it. Place the rice and sugar in the hot wok. Rip the tea bags open and scatter the leaves into the wok. Heat until smoking, then cover with foil (poke a few holes in the foil before you cover the wok). Season the trout and place it on top of the foil. Cover the wok and smoke the trout until cooked through, about 15 – 20 minutes.
Parboil the potatoes in salted water for 10 minutes. Leave to cool, then grate. Using your hands, form balls of grated potato and flatten them into rounds. Melt the butter in a saucepan and fry the rösti in batches until golden, about 25 minutes per side. .
To serve, flake the trout and place it on top of the rösti. Top with a dollop of cream and garnish with rocket, chives or dill.
