Salmon Confit

During a visit to Tetsuya's Sydney Restaurant, I tasted a delicious Trout confit and wanted to try and reproduce this beautiful dish. The slowly cooked, "confit", melts in your mouth and highlights the exquisite flavour of the Salmon.

Ingredients for the Confit

Ingredients for Fennel Salad

• 350g skinned Salmon fillet
• 100ml Grapeseed Oil
• 80ml Olive oil
• ½ Tbsp ground coriander seed
• ½ tbsp ground white pepper

• 10 Whole Basil leaves
• 3 sprigs of Thyme
• ½ tsp finely chopped garlic
• 25g each finely chopped carrot and celery
• 1tbsp chopped chives
• Salt

• ½ bulb of fennel, finely sliced
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

Step 1

Cut the Salmon fillet across into 65-90g pieces. Each piece should not weight more than 100g. If the pieces of Salmon are too big, the fish will not “confit” but will stay raw.

Into a small, shallow dish, mix the grapeseed oil, olive oil, coriander, pepper, basil leaves, thyme and garlic. Immerse the pieces of Salmon in the mixture, cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Step 2

To cook the fish, preheat the oven to 110 degrees Celsius.

Take out the fish out the marinade and allow it to come back to room temperature.

Spread the chopped carrot and celery on to a small baking dish and put the pieces of salmon on the top. Ensure that the pieces of Salmon do not come into contact with the tray.

Cook the Salmon in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, brushing it occasionally with the flavoured oil.

Step 3

The flesh should not change colour too much, it should remain a brilliant red-orange. The fish should be lukewarm to the touch and when you press the end apart, your finger should just go through the flesh.

Remove the fish from the oven and allow it to cool down to room temperature.

Meanwhile, prepare the fennel salad. Toss the fennel in lemon juice and olive oil and season to taste.

To serve, place a piece of Salmon on top of the fennel salad. Sprinkle the top of the Salmon with some chives.