A fresh piece of salmon with sweet mash, lemon roasted fennel and crisp kale.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (390ºF).
For the mash steam equal amounts of potato and sweet potato until very soft and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan, add 1 finely chopped shallot and cook gently. Add ¼ of a finely sliced cauliflower, a bay leaf, ⅓ of a cup each of milk and water, ¼ of a teaspoon of ground white pepper and salt to taste. Cook until the cauliflower is soft then add the potato and sweet potato to reheat them. Remove the bay leaf and mash to a coarse consistency, adding more butter, milk and salt if necessary.
Remove any fronds from the fennel and set aside. Slice the fennel into thin wedges and lay them in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and the juice of ½ a lemon, sprinkle with a little lemon zest and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 20 minutes.
Wash the kale, remove stems and tear into pieces. Allow to dry in a colander then spread into a large baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, freshly ground black pepper and chilli flakes. Bake for 20 minutes.
Pat the pieces of salmon dry. Finely chop the fennel fronds and some fresh tarragon. Combine with salt (I used a smoked salt), freshly ground black pepper, ground fennel powder and a little brown sugar. Press this mixture onto the salmon filets. Drizzle with a little vegetable oil, making sure to get some oil underneath the fish. Heat an oven-proof fry-pan to very hot and sprinkle some salt into it. Place the salmon skin-side down into the pan and allow to cook for 1 minute, toss some capers over the fish and put the pan into the oven for a further 7 minutes.
Serve the fish on a bed of the mash with the roasted fennel and kale on the side.
michelle picker cooks 