Chalk Street Trout Gravadlax

Trout

1. Fish Cure: gently toast the coriander seeds and Earl Grey leaves in a dry pan until they become fragrant, cool slightly. In a blender, spice grinder or with a pestle and mortar, roughly crush and tip into a mixing bowl with the zests, sugar and Maldon salt and mix together.
2. Fillet the trout and remove skin by gliding a filleting knife along the back of fish.
3. Lay a piece of baking parchment on your work surface (enough to wrap your trout), sprinkling a layer of the curing salt on top the parchment. Place one fillet on top of the salt mix then cover with another layer of the curing salt. Wrap the trout tightly in parchment and move to the fridge to cure for at 2.5 – 3 hours.
4. Optional – if you have a spice grinder, powder another couple of table spoons of toasted tea leaves and set aside in a flour shaker for dusting later. A tea strainer of small sieve will also work.

Hash browns

1. Using the fine julienne or grater attachment on your food processor, grate the potatoes and onions. Wash 4 times back and forth in a large bowl using clean water each time. Drain and set aside.
2. Squeeze out excess moisture from the grated potatoes with a clean cloth.
3. Heat the clarified butter in a heavy pan and stir in the grated potato with a good pinch of salt. Set the heat to very low and put the lid on to cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring carefully every 5 minutes.
4. Drain through a sieve to remove excess butter. Tip the potato mix onto a tray to cool.
5. Mix together the seasoning ingredients and add to the potato, mixing well.
6. Set your ring moulds out (we used 8cm diameter moulds) on a flat baking sheet or tray, lined with baking parchment. Grease the insides of the moulds with oil. Fill the moulds to just higher than the top and level off the mixture neatly with a knife or spatula. Place another sheet on top of the rings, weight and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To assemble

1. At the end of the curing time, thoroughly rinse the curing salt from the trout in plenty of cold water.
2. Slice trout in half lengthways. Then slice each half into about 1 cm slice strips (place in fridge to keep cool).
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan to 170 degrees c.
4. Carefully remove the hash browns from the moulds. Slice into 8 triangles then each wedge in half again crosswise (in total 16 wedges). Fry the wedges for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown, turning half way through. Place wedges on kitchen tissue and season with a generous sprinkle of salt and black pepper.
5. Assemble Gravadlax by placing slice cured trout on top of the potato wedges, finishing with a squeeze of lemon juice and a dollop of crème fraîche.