The BIG dinner

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Calling all you Foodies. If you have ever found yourself thinking about hosting a dinner party featuring Loch Duart salmon on the menu, now is the time to do so.

Loch Duart is supporting the Scottish charity ‘500 miles’ in ‘The BIG dinner’. For those of you who haven’t heard of this, it is a charity that helps disabled people in Malawi and Zambia to get access to artificial limbs and limb supports. ‘The BIG dinner’ is an event to be held on or around 7th March when people are invited to hold a dinner party and raise funds through dinner guest donations. Every dinner will bring new life and hope to someone in Africa who needs an artificial limb or limb support to help them achieve mobility or full body function.

On the Loch Duart online shop we have a 2.8kg carton containing 20 x Loch Duart salmon portions. It’s the perfect main course and, moreover, Loch Duart will be donating 10% of all frozen portions sales in March to 500 miles.

Nick Nairn, who is the resident chef for the BIG Dinner, has provided the show stopping starter below and we suggest you follow it with a simple grilled salmon main course.

If you don’t fancy cooking you can still support the event by sending the details, and the recipes, to your family and friends – you could even send them a box of Loch Duart salmon fillets as your contribution!

Tweet us your comments and pictures using #lochduartbigdinner


Rillette of Smoked, Poached & Hot Smoked Loch Duart Salmon

‘I love Loch Duart salmon, particularly the hot smoked variety. This recipe uses fresh, smoked and hot smoked – a great way to utilise this lovely Scottish salmon. It’s actually a very easy recipe and makes a wonderful starter to any smart dinner.’

Nick Nairn

Rillette-of-Smoked,Poached&Salmon

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

 

For the rillette

245g fresh Loch Duart salmon, to poach

175g hot smoked Loch Duart salmon, flaked

100g Loch Duart smoked salmon, finely shredded

1 banana shallot, finely chopped

¼ cucumber, deseeded and finely diced

2 tsp fresh dill, chopped

a little crème fraîche

a little Hellmann’s mayonnaise

zest of 1 lemon

black pepper

 

For the dressing

1 tsp dill, finely chopped

1 tsp small salted capers, rinsed

1 tsp gherkins, finely chopped

100ml olive oil

black pepper

lemon juice to taste

 

For the thyme crostini

stale white bread

sprig of thyme

olive oil

salt and black pepper

 

Method

First make the dressing. Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a small jug and taste, then leave to infuse.

Next make the thyme crostini. You could use bought Melba toast for these. We simply sprinkle olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme leaves onto some thinly sliced stale white bread and bake in a 170C/gas 3 oven until crisp. Keep aside until serving.

To poach the fresh salmon, bring a pan of water to the boil with a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon. There should be enough water to just cover your fish. When it’s boiling, gently drop in the salmon, with skin on, and leave for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave in the water until cooled. The fish should be opaque but not overcooked. Remove, peel off the skin, scrape off the brown muscle and flake into largish pieces.

For the rillette, place all the ingredients except for the crème fraîche and mayonnaise into a bowl and gently mix. Do not over mix; you want to keep the fish in as large pieces as possible.

Next, add just enough crème fraîche and mayonnaise to bind and hold together the fish. Remember you can always add more to bind, but it’s very hard to remove and if it’s too sloppy your rillette will be difficult to mould and won’t hold its shape.

Place small metal rings on to cold plates and spoon the mix into the rings. Leave for a minute to settle then remove the moulds. Pour dressing round and sprinkle your greens around the plate. We used Sakura Mix Micro Greens, but cress and any available herbs, such as chives and dill, or even a few rocket and watercress leaves would work well. Serve immediately with the thyme crostini.