Smoked salmon with fennel and avocado cream : Low Carb Starter

"The Galvin brothers, Chris and Jeff, have been producing some of this country’s (GB) finest French food for the past ten years. It all started in their first restaurant Bistrot de Luxe, which opened in 2005 in London’s Baker Street and is now one of the capital’s great dining destinations." This lovely recipe idea is from Chris Galvin the older brother. He produced it for Sainsbury's magazine and if you have a special gathering / dinner party soon you may wish to consider this recipe ... it makes a very nice low carb starter dish  ... at only 3g carbohydrate per serving fits into LCHF menu plans well!

Ingredients:
Serves Four as a starter

For the dill dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
zest and juice of 1 lemon
25 ml white wine vinegar
50 ml olive oil
a small handful of dill, finely chopped

For the avocado cream:
1 very ripe avocado
0.25 tsp lemon juice

To serve:
1 head of fennel, trimmed
400 g smoked salmon
coriander cress or coriander leaves
pea shoots

Method:

1. To make the dill dressing, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a small pan, add the shallot and sweat until softened but not coloured. Add the lemon zest and juice; simmer until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the vinegar and simmer until reduced by a third. Remove from the heat and whisk in the olive oil and dill. Adjust seasoning and then chill.
2. For the avocado cream, halve, stone, peel and chop the avocado. Toss with the lemon juice, then place in a food processor or blender and blend to a smooth purée; if it's too thick to blend, you can add a few drops of water to help keep it moving. Season with sea salt and place in a piping bag. Place in the fridge.
3. Cut the fennel in half lengthways and shred it very finely, preferably with a mandolin. Toss the fennel with a teaspoon of the dill dressing, season with sea salt and set aside.
4. To serve, arrange the smoked salmon in an overlapping circle around a plate. Place a small cookie cutter in the centre of the salmon and using it as a guide, pile in the fennel salad. Pipe five dots of avocado cream around the fennel salad. Spoon a teaspoon of the dill dressing around each portion of salmon. Garnish with the coriander cress and fresh pea shoots.

Each serving provides:
3.0g carbohydrate 4.3g fibre 21.2g protein 36.9g fat

See original recipe idea here

Happy Dining !

All the best Jan